Madam, - I was saddened to hear of the death of John Moriarty. I never met the man, nor have I read any of his books, but as an almost daily reader of The Irish Times over the last 20-odd years, I often read about him.
I remember reading a year or two ago that he and the media mogul Tony O'Reilly were regarded as the brightest students of their year in UCD. Naturally, I was struck by the contrast in the different paths they had taken after university - the one choosing commerce and money-making and becoming a world famous businessman, the other, after an initial stint in academia, choosing to plough what seemed like a rather lonely furrow in his search for wisdom and truth. I read that Moriarty had slept rough from time to time, no doubt contemplating the stars and the mystery of life, and that his rather unconventional lifestyle had taken its toll on his health.
In these days of prosperity and vulgarity, when even the universities seem to be more focused on the marketplace than on learning for its own sake, it was uplifting and encouraging to read about a man who had absolutely no interest in acquiring possessions and who personified the classical definition of a philosopher, namely, a lover of wisdom. May he rest in peace. - Yours, etc,
JOE PATTON, Chapelizod Court, Dublin 20.