b'A.W.B. Vincent or Billy as he was known to many, was the Vice-Chairman of The AmericanIreland Fund and former President & Chairman of its predecessor The American Irish Foundation. He was renowned for his compassion, his directness, and his extraordinaryphilanthropy in partnership with The American Ireland Fund, which changed the lives of people in Ireland both North and South. He established The American Ireland Fund Literary Award, The Ireland Fund of Monaco and The Ireland Fund of Germany. He residedin Monaco until his passing in October of 2012 at age 93.Here, Sir Anthony OReilly, Co-Founder of The Ireland Funds, reects on Billys life. born in san francisco , Sir Patrick Hogan OBE was the first chairman of The IrelandBilly Vincent traveled by train across America each year, took Fund of New Zealand, and Pierre Joannon, the driving forcethe boat to Ireland, went to Muckross House, one of Irelands behind The Ireland Fund of France, but amazingly, it was Billymost famous residences, which was the family home. In 1932, who was the motivation behind The Ireland Fund of Germany,Muckross and the estate was given by his father to the Nation, and who at our first meeting, a glittering event in Kln but happily, the family continued to live there, and it is still with Konrad Adenauerss son as its chairman, addressed felt to be Billy Vincents house. the audience, to their amazement, in perfect German. I askedTo this obvious interest in the beauty of Killarney, Kerry, him about his German connections, and he announced he hadand indeed of the wider Ireland, was added education atbeen at universityin Heidelberg in 1936and had spentMagdalene College in Cambridge, from which he graduated. manyweekendsattheschlosswithinoneofthegreat The history of The Ireland Funds is really the history of families of Germany.a sort of dialogue between the new Ireland Fund in 1976 and But that was the Warrior Billy who fought so bravely inthe iconic American Irish Foundation initially proposed by the Italian Campaign. He is alleged to have taken so many EamonDeValeraandJohnF.Kennedy.Howthesetwobullet wounds during the war that he rattled when he walked.organizations were unified is a first in Irish history and was Bill was a man for all seasons and when aroused with a fiercecreated by two men: Billy Vincent and Dan Rooney both from sense of injustice and a desire to do something about it.different sides of the track in every which way. Everything he did, particularly in founding The Ireland FundThey found they had common ground and common of Monaco, with Prince Rainier as its sponsorand his sonsensethat America was vast, boundless and unexplored from today, was without fanfare but with enormous positive effecta charitable point of viewand unanimously they agreed upon for the image of Ireland and the causes which the Fund standsTheIrelandFundsanditstrinityofPeace,Cultureandfor throughout the world.Charity. That is still its ambition today. Oneday,allofuswillbeaskedasimplequestion: Like the British constitution, the constitution and rules Did you make a contributionto the world, your town, yourof The Ireland Funds are unwritten. The Trinity of Peace,village, your team, your family? Billy would reply gruffly,CultureandCharityandincreasingly,economicandPossibly. He is the only person in the world whose capacitycommercial assistanceremains a central motif, but it has forunderstatementwastrulytheonlynon-Irishthing essentially grown into a worldwide network through a process about him.of a small group of highlymotivated people, operating in different ways in different countries. sir anthony oreillyFor example, it was started in Canada by Galen and Hilary Co-founder of The Ireland FundsWeston,andourfirstguesttherewasTerenceONeill, then Prime Minister of a turbulent Northern Ireland. The Australian Ireland Fund, with great assistance from CameronOReilly, Lady Fairfax and Charles Curran, evolved into thethriving operation it is today.connect 2013 | 55'