'PROUD people’, wrote Dean Swift about the people of Newry. Proud people indeed because we are proud of the achievements of our sons and daughters.
And for those of my generation in the Newry area, Brian Conlon stood the tallest of all those achievers.
Although it was well known that Brian was undergoing treatment for cancer, it is still hard to believe that this giant of a man would ever succumb to illness. In life there seemed nothing that he couldn’t achieve.
It was often joked that when First Derivatives was founded, the chances of getting a job were significantly increased if one played football, went to the Abbey Grammar School, or attended Queen’s University.
Of course, that was only apocryphal, because as First Derivatives grew, so too did the opportunities for thousands of young people starting out in their careers.
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The shock to them must have been discovering that their induction for work in international financial services started not in New York but in Newry!
Brian’s decision to locate his headquarters in Newry cannot be underestimated. The Newry he knew in the 1980s was blighted with unemployment -a staggering 27 per cent. Work was found on construction sites or in factories. Or worse still abroad.
But Brian had harboured higher ambitions for his native town.
He was a few years behind me in the Abbey but even then he was a towering figure as he graced the football field.
In the John Mitchell GAC, which also saw former Down captain and All-Ireland winner DJ Kane and Gaelic stalwart and co-founder of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust, Collie Bell, Brian Conlan was reckoned to be one of the most talented footballers of his generation.
When he made the Down squad it seemed he was destined to leave his mark amongst the footballing legends of the county.
As my father was involved in the then unrecognised Down Supporters Association, a few times he got me to drive Brian back to Belfast on a Sunday night after a game.
Brian was a mercurial person. Unfortunately injury to his knee cut short a promising career.
When tragedy hit his family Brian was typically stoical. He was a great support to his mother who was equally devoted to him.
Brian was very proud to acknowledge that it was Newry Credit Union which give him the loan to start his business. I was a director of the Credit Union at that time and as First Derivatives went from strength to strength, the late Joe Hughes - the general manager of the credit union and the late Arthur Morgan, a credit committee director - loved to boast that he was the best investment they ever made.
As a public relations professional, Brian gave my company the opportunity to work for First Derivatives for about seven years. He was publicity shy but knew the company couldn’t afford to be.
When Brian moved First Derivatives to its current HQ on the Canal Quays in Newry, I asked my brother in law, Peadar Jackson, an artist, to paint the buildings as they once were in the 1900s. Brian loved not only the thought but the heritage behind it. He was Newry through and through.
I last saw Brian in Carlingford a few months ago. We sat and chatted at a coffee house. Although thinner he seemed unchanged from the young lad I knew at the Abbey- the hair was still wild and unkempt. And he was still not suffering fools gladly- especially political ones!
Naturally Brian’s all too sudden loss will be felt most by his wife Julie, his children, his mother, his family circle and close colleagues.
Yet his shadow looms large not just in an industry in which he dominated but in the physical regeneration of Newry and the lives of thousands of young people for whom he provided opportunities beyond their imaginations.
Brian Conlon was a man who always strove to reach beyond his grasp and encouraged others to do likewise. Proud people indeed.
