Canon Gerald Magahy:Gerald Magahy, who has died aged 84, was a leading figure in Irish education who played a major role in the reorganisation of secondary education, in particular the sector under Protestant management, during the 1960s and 1970s.
A man of vision and energy, he was one of the few who, at the beginning of the 1960s, realised the urgency of a thorough review of secondary education in Ireland. His focus was primarily but by no means exclusively on the Protestant schools, for he saw that restricted access to secondary education, together with lack of capital and other funding, and an outdated curriculum, were major factors in preventing national economic growth.
Even before the then education minister Donogh O'Malley's far-reaching reform of the secondary sector in 1966, he was one of the Protestant principals who tried to convey the message that there was no future for small, single-sex, under-resourced schools, operating in old buildings. He played a pivotal role in the mergers and moves that saw the creation of strategically located schools with increased numbers and facilities to meet the challenges ahead.
Gerald Samuel Magahy was born in Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan, where his mother was a primary teacher, and was educated at The King's Hospital, Dublin, and Trinity College, Dublin. Having graduated in modern languages he taught first at Cheltenham College in Gloucestershire, England, then in Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, for six years.
In 1953, at the age of 30, he was appointed headmaster of Villiers School, Limerick. Within eight years, a school with 54 pupils on the roll and located near the city centre had moved to new buildings in the suburbs and seen its numbers increase to almost 150. Having been ordained in 1953, he served as bishop's curate throughout his time at Villiers.
The retirement of his former headmaster, the Rev JJ Butler, opened the way for him to return to his old school in 1961. He was to serve as headmaster and chaplain of The King's Hospital for 22 years.
With John Wilson-Wright, a prominent governor of the school, he was the driving force in taking the brave but difficult decision to leave Thomas Ivory's great Georgian building in Blackhall Place, in particular its beautiful chapel, to move to a green-field suburban site. The extensive riverside lands of Brooklawn, Palmerstown, were to become the campus of the new school.
It would not have been possible at the time to foresee how west Dublin would expand over the coming years. A merger with Mercer's School, a small girls' school in Castleknock, opened the way for the creation of a co-educational school, with both boarding and day pupils, open to Roman Catholics, which had a roll of 600 pupils when he retired at the age of 60.
Magahy was a schoolmaster who took a close interest in his pupils and knew not only their names but from where each one came. He was actively involved in every aspect of school life from teaching, music, drama, sport and church services to building and maintenance. He was as at home in the boiler house as in the headmaster's study.
He also built up a dedicated staff, who were expected to put in the long hours he worked and many of whom were to serve the school for long periods. Indeed a significant number were to become principals themselves. He earned the respect of his staff and pupils alike.
A product of the era when schools were authoritarian and often harsh, Magahy was determined to make them more sensitive and caring places. He rejected lists of rules but was firm in demanding high standards based on self-responsibility. He was wont to say that his only rule was that all pupils should behave decently.
Magahy's influence went far beyond the schools of which he was headmaster. Greatly respected within the Department of Education, he sat on the registration council and was a leading figure on the joint managerial body. Its former chairman, Fr John Hughes, SJ, considered him to be "the personification of the Church of Ireland contribution to education in the country in the 60s and 70s". In recognition of his services to education he was given the honour of being invited to join the board of Clongowes Wood College and was awarded the degree of Doctor in Laws, honoris causa, by Dublin University in 1980.
While at The King's Hospital, he was appointed to the chapter of the national cathedral of St Patrick where he served successively as treasurer, chancellor and precentor. In retirement, St Patrick's was to be the centre of his ministry. With a good singing voice and with a love of cathedral liturgy, he played a full part in the daily services.
His well-prepared and clearly delivered sermons were always well suited to school chapel, parish church or cathedral. However, this was not enough for him and he also served for 10 years as an honorary curate in Monkstown parish, where he was greatly loved as a regular visitor to the numerous retirement and nursing homes in the parish.
He also continued his work for education by serving on the boards of a number of schools, notably St Patrick's Cathedral Grammar School as well as his old school. He is survived by his wife Mona, daughter Adrienne and grandchildren Emma, Stephen and Patrick.
The Rev Canon Gerald Samuel Magahy: born February 2nd, 1923; died January 17th, 2008