Cathal Ryan leaves €35 million to charity
Howard Lake | 22 June 2009 | News
Cathal Ryan, the son of the late Ryanair founder, Tony Ryan, who died in 2007, has left €35 million to charity in his will.
Records filed at the Probate Office in Dublin last week show that Ryan left an estate of €249,694,000 when he died on December 20, 2007. The 48-year-old businessman, who lived in Celbridge, Co Kildare, had suffered from cancer.
High Court probate documents revealed that Ryan instructed trustees of his estate to give €35m to charity – including at least €10m to charities helping Irish children, the performing arts and higher education.
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Ryan was one of the first Ryanair pilots and was a director of the airline from 1996 to 2002. Ryan was also involved in a number of other business ventures. He was an owner and breeder of horses and supported the Irish drama and medical groups. Since his death, the Cathal Ryan Trust has announced plans for a theatre and academy of dramatic arts at NUI Maynooth.
Ryan was survived by his children Cillian, Claudia, Danielle and Cameron and by his mother and brothers. He died less than three months after the death of his father.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.