Peter Sutherland was probably the most well connected and influential Irish person operating at the highest levels of global politics and business over the past four decades.
Mr Sutherland had been ill for some time and died at St James' Hospital in Dublin this morning surrounded by his family.
His was a glittering career that moved through law, politics, global trade, big business and most recently the migration crisis.
The start followed a well worn path - Gonzaga, UCD, the Kings Inns and Fine Gael - but Garret Fitzgerald had spotted something out of the ordinary, and made him Attorney General at the age of just 35.
But the real turning point came when Mr Fitzgerald nominated him to the European Commission in 1985. This was Jacques Delors' first commission, a dynamic groundbreaking group that created the Single Market.
As Competition Commissioner, Mr Sutherland was a key player - making competition one of the most powerful portfolios, and bringing in sweeping deregulation notably in aviation - changes that paved the way for low-cost airlines like Ryanair to emerge - and in Telecoms, opening up competition for fixed and mobile phone providers - both driving down costs and increasing choice for consumers.
But Mr Sutherland said he was most proud of pushing through the Erasmus programme, that enables students to spend a college year in another EU country.
He build such a reputation at the Commission that the US and EU jointly nominated him to head up the Global Trade organisation GATT - soon to be renamed the World Trade Organisation, with Mr Sutherland as its first chairman.
He led the WTO by raising trade deals to head of government level, pushing through the last successful global trading agreement - the Uruguay round - and ushering in the current age of globalisation.
Mr Sutherland then began a new career in big business - chairing the British oil major BP, and for almost two decades, Goldman Sachs International - the London-based offshoot of Wall Street’s biggest investment bank.
He kept up intensive international networking through organisations like the Bilderberg Group and the Trilateral commission, which he co-chaired, and the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he was a board member.
Along the way he collected 15 honorary doctorates from universities around the globe, as well as numerous state honours. He chaired the London School of Economics, and advised the Pope on reforming the Vatican’s banking and financial structures.
His final career was as an outspoken UN special Representative on Migration - a top level advocacy role Kofi Annan asked him to take on. It became his full time work when the Syrian war unleashed a tidal wave of human misery on top of the African migration crisis that has turned the Mediterranean into a graveyard.
The single market, world trade, business and migration - Mr Sutherland’s career covered all the key elements of the Brexit debate. He campaigned vigorously against Britain leaving the EU, something he considered supreme folly. His vast experience and connections could have been invaluable for this country for the Brexit challenge ahead. But illness took him at the age of 71.
