A man larger than life, was my father. Strikingly handsome with a tall, imposing presence and deep resonant voice, he could be charming or intimidating. Never ordinary. Three months after suffering a massive stroke, he died on August 8th, 10 days short of his 76th birthday. Bill Cade adopted Ireland as his home in 1967, when he purchased Kilkea Castle in Co Kildare and converted it into a hotel. Built in 1180, complete with ghost room, formal gardens, moat and dungeon, Kilkea was fertile ground for my father's love of storytelling.
Born in 1921 of White Russian parents and raised in Paris, he became a French Resistance fighter in 1941. He was imprisoned in a German concentration camp and later awarded the French Legion of Honour for valour. In 1947 he moved to New York, where he worked as a travel executive. While in New York he married twice and had three children.
The last 23 years of his life spent in Ireland were a gentle antidote to the horrors of the Holocaust which haunted him. He often spoke of the gentleness of the Irish people and it was here that he felt safe and accepted. In speaking to the many people whose lives he touched, he seems to have often served the role of mentor or adviser. He generously shared the wisdom gleaned from his remarkable life and in return was loved and respected by the kindest people in the world.
Bill Cade is survived by his third wife, Sally, son William of Kildare, daughter Joan and son Jonathan of New York, daughter Jennifer Gallagher and grandchildren Vincent and Zoe of New Jersey.