Full name | Anthony Joseph Francis O'Reilly | ||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 7 May 1936 | ||||||||||||
Place of birth | Dublin, Ireland | ||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||||
Weight | 89 kg (14 st; 196 lb) | ||||||||||||
School | Belvedere College | ||||||||||||
University |
University College Dublin University of Bradford |
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Notable relative(s) |
Spouses Susan M. Cameron Chryss Goulandris Children Cameron O'Reilly Gavin O'Reilly Tony O'Reilly, Junior Ex-daughter-in-law Alison Doody |
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Rugby union career | |||||||||||||
Playing career | |||||||||||||
Position | Wing | ||||||||||||
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Professional / senior clubs | |||
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Years | Club / team | Apps | (points) |
19xx-19xx 19xx-19xx 195x-195x 19xx-19xx |
Old Belvedere Leicester Tigers London Irish Soccer Home Farm |
Provincial/State sides | |||
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Years | Club / team | Apps | (points) |
Leinster |
National team(s) | |||
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Years | Club / team | Apps | (points) |
1955-1970 1955-1959 1955-1963 |
Ireland Lions Barbarians |
29 10 30 |
(18) (114 (38 tries)) |
(12)
Sir Anthony Joseph Francis "Tony" O'Reilly (born 7 May 1936, Dublin, Ireland), is a bankrupt former Irish businessman and international rugby union player. He is known for his involvement in the Independent News & Media Group, which he led from 1973 to 2009, and as former CEO and Chairman of the H.J. Heinz Company. He was the leading shareholder of Waterford Wedgwood. Perhaps Ireland's first billionaire, as of 26 May 2014 O'Reilly is being pursued in the Irish courts for debts amounting to €22 million by AIB, following losses amounting to hundreds of millions of euro in his unsuccessful attempt to stop Denis O'Brien from assuming control of Independent News & Media.
As a rugby player, he represented Ireland, the British and Irish Lions and the Barbarians and is enshrined as a member of the International Rugby Board's Hall of Fame. O'Reilly has six children and 19 grandchildren and is married to Chryss Goulandris. He lives primarily in Lyford Cay in the Bahamas and Kilcullen in Ireland, with frequent stays at Glandore, County Cork, Ireland.
O'Reilly was born in Dublin, the only child of a civil servant, John O'Reilly (1906–1976), and Aileen O'Connor (1914–1989). O'Reilly's Drogheda-born father, eventually an inspector-general of customs, was born "Reilly" and added the O' when he applied to join the Irish Civil Service. Previously married with four older children, but estranged from his first wife, John O'Reilly married Aileen O'Connor in 1973, after the death of his first wife and only a little time after he had told his son of his other family. O'Reilly had been told about the situation by a Jesuit when he was 15, but kept it secret. He arranged for the John and Aileen O'Reilly Library at Dublin City University to be named after his parents, and the O'Reilly Institute at University College Dublin to be named for his father, who had studied there.