Irish businessman Gary Kennedy has died aged 65. News of his death was confirmed on Tuesday morning by UK listed company Norcros, where Mr Kennedy served as chairman.
“With great sadness, Norcros announces that Gary Kennedy, the board chair and a non-executive director of the company, has passed away,” the company said. The board of directors on behalf of the entire group expresses its sincere condolences to Gary’s family and many friends.”
It is understood that Mr Kennedy died while in Spain, after a short illness.
Mr Kennedy was also chairman of Goodbody Stockbrokers and had recently stepped down from the same role with Irish-listed company Greencore.
“On behalf of the board, the management and all our Greencore colleagues, we want to express our great sorrow and sadness at the passing of our esteemed and highly respected former chair Gary Kennedy,” Greencore said in a statement. “Gary — who was our chair for 10 years until January 2023 — was a great leader, a dedicated businessman, a true people person and a valued friend and adviser. We extend our deepest condolences to all his family and friends at this sad time.”
Mr Kennedy is perhaps best known for his time as a senior executive with AIB, where he spent more than eight years and announced his decision to step down as group director of finance and enterprise technology in mid-2005. He was appointed by the State to the board of Anglo Irish Bank in 2010, following its nationalisation, and he held other board roles over the past decade or so.
Before joining AIB, he had held several management positions with Nortel Networks Europe over 13 years, having earlier begun his executive career with Deloitte.
