HERBERT BLUME adopted Ireland as his country and as with many of our adopted citizens, it was a warm and harmonious relationship, one that extended over 50 years. He was best known in the Irish motor industry and had a knowledge of its growth and development that was remarkable and encyclopaedic.
His links with the motor trade began in the heyday of car assembly, initially with International Sales, the Irish agent for the famous Heinkel bubble car, which was built in Dundalk. After some years he moved to Lincoln and Nolan, then assemblers of Austin, a major marque in the 1950s. It was in 1968 that he joined Fiat and thus began an association that ended only with his passing. Although retired, he remained a director of Fiat Auto Ireland and up to his death maintained an avid interest in the company's progress.
Nobody ever called him "Herbert" he was familiarly known in the trade as Nicky. Combining a physical presence with a vast knowledge of the industry, he cut a formidable figure among colleagues and competitors alike. He was enormously respected by the retail trade and he championed the cause of dealers, believing that their success and prosperity was what sent market shares climbing. In his active days with Fiat, he was frequently dropping into dealerships all over the country and this liaison gave him a tremendous insight into the overall retail scene.
His love of Ireland and its countryside meant that he knew all its obscure and remote byways. Nicky Blume loved exploring the environs of his weekend cottage in Ballygannon, Kilcoole and was naturally inquisitive in searching out fresh vistas, discovering perhaps a gemutlich pub or a good restaurant. For nearly 30 years, his interest in country life was shared by his wife Angela, whom he married in 1967. Both also shared a passion for gardening.
Aside from the motor industry, Nicky Blume had another, lesser known business activity. He was the agent in Ireland for German fish processing equipment and that meant visits to major fishing ports, such as Kilmore Quay and Killybegs and Castletownbere. He could discourse on fish and fishing quotas with the same easy authority as on the fiscal problems of the motor trade.
Nicky Blume held to old fashioned disciplines of correctness and doing the job thoroughly, with attention to detail, a legacy perhaps of his Prussian background. But he was no killjoy and enjoyed his Irish life to the full. A keen angler, the mere whisper that the may fly was up was enough to have him scurrying to his beloved Coramona on Lough Corrib.
We said fairwell to Nicky at a thanksgiving Requiem in St Bartholomew's Church in Ballsbridge, Dublin. During Communion the choir, movingly, sang the Bach Chorale's of Sacred Head Surrounded, a traditional Lutheran funeral hymn. There was a eulogy from Paddy Corcoran, managing director of Fiat Auto Ireland who spoke about how he had benefited from Nicky's wisdom and experience in the motor industry. Surviving him are Angela, his wife, and nieces and nephews Renate, Barbara, Wolfgang and Peter and to them sincere condolences are expressed.
GuteRuh, gute Ruh!
Tu die Augen zu!
Wandrer, du muder, du bist zu Haus.
(The Stream's Lullaby, Schubert/Mueller)
(Rest you well, rest you well, close your eyes!
Wanderer, tired one, you are at home.)