Travel agent who brought American tours to Ireland

Jimmy Murphy, who has died aged 82, was a legend in the travel tour industry.

Though most of his business career was spent in the United States he retained strong links with his native Ireland.

He was the co-founder of Brendan Vacations, formerly Brendan Tours, which pioneered customised tours of Ireland and Scotland.

Named after Ireland’s legendary navigator, the company contributed significantly to the branding of Ireland as a friendly and cultural travel destination, not just in Europe but in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Murphy was also co-founder of Ama Waterway, which specialised in river cruising, notably on major European rivers like the Rhine and the Danube. Family members, who grew up in the travel trade with their father, retain a working interest in this company through son Gary and daughter Susan.

Travel agency

Born in Phibsboro in Dublin, the son of James, a driver and motor mechanic in a local garage, and Mary (née Fleming) the young Murphy left school at 14 to work in a retail travel agency for nine years.

Later he would say that was one of the most formative experiences of his career: he not only learned the nuts and bolts of the travel trade but discovered the importance of working with people and meeting the needs and wishes of the travelling public.

In his spare time he loved to dance and and it was a favourite dancing partner, Sheila Stanley, who was to become his wife. With marriage, Murphy felt it was time to move on, this time to the United States, where his Aunt Theresa helped the newlyweds make a home in an upstairs apartment on Staten Island.

There he joined Aer Lingus, where he held varous executive sales positions for the next eleven years at a time when the airline was building up its North Atlantic service and shaping up to face into the biggest revolution the industry would experience. He also found time to attend night school and gained the high school diploma his early school-leaving in Ireland had denied him.

No passport

In the early years of the airline business most Americans did not have a passport and travel outside the United States was beyond the means of the average family. But that was about to change.

Jumbo jets and other wide-bodied aircraft were cutting flying time to Europe and further; fares were coming down with competition. A whole range of low cost charter flights were coming on the market.

Mass air travel opened up a vista of a big world out there and in a nation of immigrants and their descendants a wish to go back and discover family roots.

Ireland was out to capture a slice of this promising market and Jimmy Murphy was ready for the challenge. But the transition from working for an airline to working for oneself or in a partnership could involve risk.

Brendan O’Kelly, vice-president for sales for Aer Lingus at that time, recalls that Murphy held back from telling his family of the move he had made. But grit and dedication would see him through.

His success on the international travel stage was in no small measure due to his personality. When word of his death spread in December tributes poured in from friends and associates within the industry.

He was remembered as a man who touched the lives of all he met. His popularity was underlined by the fact that he was twice elected president of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA). He was also a founder member of the United States Tour Operators Association.

A gentleman

His son Gary recalls with affection working side by side with his father in the family business. Always a gentleman to his staff, he was a man who never raised his voice. His ashes were brought back to Ireland at his own request to be interred in a cemetery close to his beloved Phibsboro, where his long journey had begun. He is survived by his widow, Sheila, and their children, Sharon Devitt, Susan Murphy, Sean Murphy and Gary Murphy.