GABRIEL KIELY was born in Ballinasloe, Co Galway on October 22nd, 1940, one of seven children. He studied for a BA in economics, history and philosophy at UCD from 1962 to 1965 and a higher diploma in social science in 1966. During that year he won a scholarship to Florida State University, where he obtained a master’s degree in social work in 1968.
Gabriel went to California, where he worked as a social worker for Catholic social services and honed his skills as a marriage and family counsellor. During that period he met and married Linda Mattison. In 1971 they returned to Ireland and Gabriel was appointed to a key post in the department of social science, UCD, where the first Irish professional training course in social work had been established. Gabriel was to play the central role in shaping and developing that master’s degree throughout his academic career, as countless Irish social workers will testify
Gabriel and Linda had four children. They led full lives with their family and many friends. They travelled extensively with their children, visiting Linda’s relatives in California and Italy and on one occasion they packed the four children into the back of a van and drove half way across Africa to visit Gabriel’s missionary brother in Bophuthatswana. Their family and friends suffered a huge loss when Linda died in 1999.
Family and relationships were at the heart of Gabriel’s life, both at home and at work. For many years he managed to combine his teaching in UCD with clinical work as a marital therapist at Cluain Mhuire Family Centre in Blackrock. This inspired his PhD, which was an indepth study of a new approach to marital therapy that was to benefit many couples thereafter.
During his academic life he produced an impressive number of publications, two as sole author, Family Change in Europe Since 1970: A Framework for Analysisand Finding Love: Counselling for Couples in Crisis. He also contributed to and edited a number of seminal titles on Irish social policy.
Gabriel was a man of great fun, great integrity and immense kindness. His career at UCD was long and distinguished: he was director of post-graduate professional training in social work from 1985 to 1991; head of department of social policy and social work 1992-1998 and 2001-2006; he was also dean of the faculty of philosophy and sociology from 1992 to 1998. He was responsible for setting up, with five other universities, the only master’s degree in European family policies that was funded by the EU Socrates programme and located at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
As a result of his great contribution to Irish and European family policies, the European Commission awarded him the prestigious Jean Monet professorship in national family policies. He was also invited as visiting professor to a number of universities abroad.
He helped to plan the Family Mediation Service in this country and served as board member and as a trustee. He was also responsible for developing and ultimately establishing the diploma and master’s in mediation studies in UCD up to his retirement in 2006.
Gabriel gave a lot of his time and wisdom to the Family Mediation Service and it was through this connection that he had the wonderful good fortune to meet and fall in love with Polly Phillimore. They were married in 2005, not long before his retirement from UCD. He had a wonderfully happy retirement and continued to live life to the full, concentrating on those he loved most: his wife Polly, his grown-up children and beloved grandchildren. Polly and Gabriel were a marvellous couple. During the all-too-short time they shared together in Dublin and their beloved Sligo their family and friends rejoiced in their happiness.
Gabriel died on December 23rd, 2010, after a determined battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife Polly (Phillimore) and his children, Kathleen, Marleen, Frank and Lindara, and grandchildren Kiely, Kaitlin, Pablo and Harry. – HB