The death has taken place of Robert Dunne, son of the former head of Dunnes Stores, the late Ben Dunne.
Mr Dunne, who was 50, died peacefully in New York on August 1st. He is to be buried on Monday in Castleknock Churchyard, Dublin, following a Requiem Mass at St Mochta’s Church, Porterstown, Clonsilla.
The Brehon Law Society of New York, where Mr Dunne worked as a lawyer, said it was with “deep respect and remembrance” that it heard of the death of its President Emeritus.
“Rob’s unwavering dedication to justice, his leadership within the Brehon Law Society, and his enduring commitment to the Irish-American legal community leave a lasting impression,” it said, announcing that a month’s mind Mass is to be held in New York on September 4th.
Mr Dunne grew up in Castleknock, Co Dublin, attended Trinity College Dublin and the London School of Economics, worked in Dunnes Stores in the Ilac Centre, Dublin, and later moved to the US to work as a lawyer.
He is survived by his mother, Mary, siblings Mark, Caroline and Nicholas, and wider family.
Condolences posted on RIP.ie recalled his time in Castleknock, at Trinity, in the Ilac Centre, and in the US.
“I lived in NYC for twenty years and attended many interesting legal events invited by Rob. His laughter was infectious and wit, second to none. May he rest in peace,” said Antoin, formerly of Manhattan.
In a moving interview with The Sunday Independent last year Mr Dunne spoke about being the son of one of the State’s top business figures and a man whose life was filled with extraordinary controversy.
Among the events he recalled was his father being kidnapped by the Provisional IRA in 1981, being arrested in Florida in 1992 when having a panic attack after taking cocaine, and the way his mother stuck with her husband during the ensuing controversy and his father’s continuing struggles with cocaine.
“I think my dad developed what we would now call PTSD and he needed counselling,” Mr Dunne said in respect of the effect of the kidnapping.
The fallout from the events in Florida included an audit being commissioned of Dunnes Stores accounts, which led in time to revelations about payments to Michael Lowry and the late Charles Haughey, and the associated inquiries by the McCracken and Moriarty tribunals.
Mr Dunne told the newspaper that it was the events in Florida and the fallout from them that led to his decision to study law. He eventually set up his own firm in New York.
Asked what he would say to his father, who died in 2023, Mr Dunne said he would tell him he couldn’t have had a better father. “You made lots of mistakes, but you owned all of them. Please know that I am nothing but proud of you.”