Hotelier with the golden touch, Paddy Fitzpatrick, dies aged 72

Mr Paddy Fitzpatrick, one of Ireland's most successful hoteliers, died last Friday at the age of 72. He leaves a legacy that includes six privately held hotels in two countries, the fruits of a career lasting 55 years. The entire Fitzpatrick Hotel Group is now set to pass to his five children.

A native of Vico Road in the affluent Dublin suburb of Killiney, Mr Fitzpatrick began working at the age of 17.

He began training at the Gresham Hotel on Dublin's O'Connell Street, where he worked under the guidance of Mr Toddy O'Sullivan.

Quickly moving through the ranks at the hotel, he was appointed assistant manager within 10 years. He proceeded to manage the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis and subsequently moved to the Stafford-owned Talbot Hotel in Wexford.

There he developed a 20-room hotel into a successful 120-room facility, with the Stafford family ultimately rewarding his achievement with a 25 per cent holding in their business.

Aged 38, and after 14 years away, Mr Fitzpatrick was lured back to Dublin to become general manager of Mr P.V. Doyle's fast-growing hotel group. The position was said to carry the highest salary in Irish hotels at the time and saw Mr Fitzpatrick oversee the opening of two hotels for Mr Doyle - the Skylon and the Tara Towers - in the space of a year.

It was not until 1971, when Mr Fitzpatrick was entering his 40s, that the real business of his career began - he judged that the time was right to make his first move into hotel ownership.

With the help of bank financing, he bought Killiney Castle, a hotel set on nine acres, for £140,000 (€177,000) and set about refurbishing it at a cost of £80,000. By 1973, Killiney Castle had 48 rooms and was thriving.

Four years later, Mr Fitzpatrick purchased the Shannon Shamrock hotel in Co Clare for £180,000. Within its first 18 months of trading, it had generated profits of £80,000, despite incurring losses of £70,000 the year before Mr Fitzpatrick took it over.

By 1990, Mr Fitzpatrick had three hotels, having added the Silver Springs in Cork in 1988. As the group prepared to spend £3.2 million on conference centres in Dublin and Cork, it was turning over in the region of £7 million per year. International expansion was in the offing, with the US Mr Fitzpatrick's favoured location.

Just over a year ago, Mr Fitzpatrick saw the culmination of this ambition when he purchased a new hotel in Chicago for €27.5 million, adding to two already owned in Manhattan.

The deal was part of a restructuring that saw him divide his hotel group among his family, with the largest stakes passing to sons John and Paul. A 40 per cent group stake held by venture-capital company ACT was also bought back.

Mr Fitzpatrick estimated at the time that he was transferring about £25 million in property to his children. "I'm 71 now, I'll quietly step back from running the company," he said.

Mr Fitzpatrick is survived by his wife Nora, his children Eithne, John, Paul, Patrick and Tony, his stepson David and seven grandchildren.