James Kealy:Donegal chef and restaurateur James Kealy, of Kealy's Seafood Bar, has died at his Greencastle home at the age of 46.
Kealy put Greencastle and the Inishowen peninsula on the culinary map with the standard of his cooking, use of fresh seafood from the harbour across the road, and a series of awards and accolades, including recognition from Egon Ronay, Bridgestone and Georgina Campbell.
He also made a major contribution to the local tourism industry by training other chefs and by becoming involved in local festivals and cookery competitions.
At a time when most of his generation had left Inishowen, Kealy returned to Greencastle with his wife Tricia in 1989 and set up Kealy's Seafood Bar at his family pub. The couple hoped to "offer really good food in relaxed surroundings with a good atmosphere and a bit of craic thrown in".
They started from a small family kitchen with a four-ring gas cooker and only four tables for dining. The first menus ranged from lobster thermidor and seafood chowder to chilli con carne, but they gradually introduced signature dishes such as smoked salmon surprise and pearl of the Foyle oysters.
Among the earliest fans of Kealy's cooking were Nobel laureate John Hume and his wife Pat. John Hume in particular loved inviting guests to "eat in the local bar" and then revelling in their surprise at being served amazing food in such unassuming premises.
Famous diners over the years included American political figures such as Jean Kennedy Smith, Chris Dodd and Nancy Soderberg; as well as figures from the arts world such as Brian Friel, Phil Coulter and Jennifer Johnston, Stephen Rea, Seamus Heaney, Mary Black, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Gay Byrne and Eamon Holmes.
Kealy's father Willie originally bought and ran the pub, and his mother Gertie was the local midwife.
Educated at the local national school and then at Carndonagh community school, Kealy attended Killybegs Catering College from 1978 to 1980. He spent the following nine years in Dublin, taking further courses and gaining experience in places such as the Berkeley Court and Restaurant na Mara. He also became actively involved in the ITGWU as a shop steward and a trustee of the number four branch.
In 1984, he married Wexford woman Tricia Moran, who had trained alongside him at Killybegs. Their first son, Eoghan, was born in 1986 and Oisín followed in 1989 after the move back to Donegal and the establishment of the restaurant.
By 1995, the six tables and two sittings at the Seafood Bar were no longer enough to meet demand and they extended the restaurant to make room, not just for more tables, but for live traditional music too. After finishing in the kitchen, Kealy often joined the music sessions at the bar, with superb renditions of ballads such as The Rocky Road to Dublin.
As the restaurant's fame grew, it began to appear in publications as diverse as the Financial Times and Vanity Fair, as well as food guides such as Egon Ronay, Bridgestone and Georgina Campbell. It also won the Egon Ronay seafood restaurant of the year award in 1996 and the award for most creative use of seafood in Georgina Campbell's Jameson Guide in 2002.
Kealy's passions were cooking, music, golf and politics. He was generous, outgoing, hard-working and loved a good argument.
He and Tricia ran the business as a close team, and she will return to the kitchen when the restaurant reopens in the summer.
James Kealy is survived by Tricia, their sons Eoghan and Oisín, his mother Gertie and his sisters Kaye and Olivia.
James Kealy: born October 10th, 1960; died January 26th, 2007.