AGED 86, Mr P.E.D. ‘Bobby’ Kennedy passed away at Milford Hospice this Tuesday July 26 of 2016 with family present.ย A high achieving business man, hotelier and banker throughout decades, he was founding father to a multiple of successful companies known throughout the Mid West and a loving family man.
Everybody living in Limerick was familiar with and was likelyย to beย a customer to, if not an employee of Elm Motors, 1962’s First Southern Bank which became the Irish Credit Bank; The Royal George Hotel and Theย Glentworthย Hotel; and William Street’s flagship store, JP Newsom & Co Ltd.
His father Joseph was a builder/architect and it was at his suggestion that Bobby Kennedy set up First Southern Bank as a small private merchant bank.ย Billyย Slatteryย was another stakeholder and managed First Southern right up to 1979 when itย was soldย toย Woodchesterย Bank.
“Bobby Kennedy was very upfront in his dealings,” recalls Mrย Slattery. “He was a straight talker, a straight dealer, a good business man”.
The Royal George Hotel was for decades the city’s finest with a spectacular ballroom, later developed into one of the first night clubs of the Mid West, Fernandos. This hotel was ultimatelyย was soldย through Rooneyย Auctioneers’ Pat Kearney, a man who remembers Mr Kennedy as a “business man who knew his facts, his figures, told it straight. He was a pleasure to meet and converse with. He was recognised as a brilliant businessman who was very astute, highly intelligent and very honourable”.
Motor racing wasย a passion ofย his and as a pioneering Irish man, Mr Kennedy even drove the 1956 Monte Carlo rally with the late Hector Milesย Newenham and Michael Keane. He attended every match by Old Crescent and followedย Munsterย and Irelandย with dedication.
A source close to the family told Limerick Post of his keen pride in his children and grandchildren, in everything that was new about the world: “Heย was interestedย in people and things and over the years had good managers who stayed with him a long time. He was a supremeย delegator”.
A loss to Limerick’s landscape, Mr Bobby Kennedyย is survivedย by his wife of 62 yearsย Ailish, daughters Isobel, the High Court judge, and Victoria, sons Patrick, manager at St. Mary’s A.I.D., Alan and Robert, partner with Holmes O’Malley Sexton, sons in law, daughters in law and 15 grandchildren.
Cremation in Mount Jerome on Friday July 29 at 1.30pm.
