BELFAST-born businessman Paul McGlade has been described as one of Ireland’s “finest and most fearless entrepreneurs” following his death aged 69.
Mr McGlade, who founded the former Champion Sports chain along with other successful ventures in Dublin, died last Thursday following a short illness.
After starting his career at market stalls in the north, he moved to Dublin in the 1970s, and opened the Apollo store on Moore Street.
In the 1990s he opened Champion Sports in Dublin, with the brand having 23 stores on the island of Ireland at the peak of its popularity. The brand was eventually sold to JD Sports in 2011 for €19.6m.
Mr McGlade also opened beauty chain Thérapie in 2001, which has expanded to 75 clinics across the globe, and eye surgery clinic Optilase four years later.
Friend and founder of Dublin’s Ailesbury Clinic, Dr Patrick Treacy, said in a social media post that Mr McGlade’s company “always brought joy and camaraderie, leaving a lasting imprint on my heart”, adding: “His presence will be dearly missed.”
His family said in a statement that although the Belfast businessman was “one of Ireland’s finest and most fearless entrepreneurs”, his successes “never blinded him to the joy he felt in the company of his children and six grandchildren”.
The statement added: “They, he liked to say, were the true riches of his life.”
A death notice said Mr McGlade “will be missed by his adoring children, Paul, Phillip, Katie and William, their mother Rita, his brother, Johnny, sister, Sharon, his 6 grandchildren and his many friends and family across the world”.
