TONY O'REILLY is probably Ireland's richest man, with a personal fortune running into hundreds of millions of pounds. His business interests span the globe.
From his youth, he attracted attention. A Jesuit boy, he studied law at UCD and, aged just 18, he became the star of the Irish international rugby team, followed by the Lions. By 25, he was the first general manager of An Bord Bainne; he launched Kerrygold, the most successful Irish brand name.
In 1968, he went to work for H.J. Heinz, and rose quickly to the number two spot in the company. In 1979 he became chief executive, based in Pittsburg in the US. Now 61, he is expected to relinquish his title in 1999 or 2000, after seeing through a massive restructure of the company.
After that he has indicated that he will remain on as an "active" chairman of the company to which he has dedicated most of his working life.
Aside from his annual salary at" Heinz - last year alone this came to $65 million (£43 million) - Dr O'Reilly is the company's largest individual shareholder, with stock worth £193 million.
Back home, he controls more than 25 per cent of Independent Newspapers and is chairman of the group. Apart from its dominance of the Irish newspaper market, it has extensive interests worldwide, including stakes in British, Australian, and New Zealand media groups.
He is chairman of Fitwilton, whose main interest is the Wellworth supermarket chain in Northern Ireland, and of Waterford Wedgwood. He takes an active interest in the companies he chairs - for example setting a "chairman's challenge" to the management of Waterford Wedgwood to increase sales substantially by 2000.
Famous for amusing after dinner speeches and his apparently easygoing manner socially, Dr O'Reilly has always been tough in business. Married (for the second time) to the heiress Chryss Goulandris, he has homes in Dublin, Kildare, Cork, Pittsburgh, Normandy and the exclusive Lyford Cay compound near Nassau in the Bahamas.
In December 1995, Dr O'Reilly entered the Blackrock Clinic generating a flurry of speculation about his health. This died down" when he emerged a few days later, attributing his stay in hospital to an inner ear infection and flu, although a subsequent weight loss has not entirely quelled the rumours.