Well-known businessman Gary Kennedy has died aged 65. His death was announced by London stock market-listed Norcros, where the Irishman was chairman of the board of directors and a non-executive director of the company.

Tributes were also paid by former colleagues and friends including the leadership of Greencore, where Mr Kennedy had been chairman until January. 

"On behalf of the board, the management and all our Greencore colleagues, we want to express our great sorrow and sadness at the passing of our esteemed and highly respected former chair Gary Kennedy. Gary – who was our chair for 10 years until January 2023 – was a great leader, a dedicated businessman, a true people person and a valued friend and advisor.

“We extend our deepest condolences to all his family and friends at this sad time.”

Originally from Armagh, Mr Kennedy studied in England, at Lancaster University, before kicking off his working life in Dublin and Limerick with Deloitte in 1978. 

His career took off when he joined Nortel Networks where over 13 years he moved rapidly up the ranks and through a number of countries to join the senior leadership as Vice President for Enterprise Networks EMEA. 

From there he became a senior AIB executive and while still in his 30s was group director of finance and enterprise technology from 1997 to 2005.

He missed out on the chief executive post at AIB to Eugene Sheehy and subsequently left the bank, a move that ultimately meant he side-stepped the career damage suffered by many of his contemporaries who were in senior roles at AIB and other banks when the crash hit in 2008. 

Instead, Mr Kennedy carved out an alternative path with a portfolio career as a senior adviser to businesses and as a non-executive director including as a state-appointed board member at IBRC, the former Anglo Irish Bank.

He also had roles at Elan, Friends First and as chair of Greencore, Connect Group and Green Reit whose IPO and later sale he oversaw.

He returned to AIB last year as the first chairman of its Goodbody Stockbrokers subsidiary after the bank bought that business from owners including Fexco.  

As well as the private sector, Mr Kennedy sat on the boards of a range of not-for-profit and public sector bodies, including homeless charity Focus Ireland, the Institute of Directors and the IDA and was co-chair of ‘Balance for Better Business’, the Irish Government-sponsored gender balance initiative.