Fossett's Circus matriarch Herta Fossett has died aged 92, her family has announced.
In a statement, the family said Ms Fossett died yesterday while on tour with the circus in Newbridge, Co Kildare.
They said that she and her late husband Teddy devoted their lives to what they loved, which was the circus.
Herta Phorsky came to Ireland in 1952, part of the Top of the Bill 'Three Lordini Perch Act,' touring with Fossett's that season and "fell in love with Teddy at first sight, and stayed", the statement said.
They were married in 1953 and were both part of the day-to-day running of Fossett's Circus throughout their lives.
Mr Fossett died in 1998.
Ms Fossett had been involved in the circus from a young age and speaking to RTÉ in 1976 said performing takes "an awful lot of practice".
She also said circus performing should be officially supported in Ireland as it was in other European countries.
RTÉ Archives: The Circus Comes to Town (1976)
Speaking to RTÉ's Nationwide in 2013, the former trapeze artist said circus life was "not an easy life but it is a rewarding life".
"Especially when you work in the ring and you hear the applause and people like you, it makes you feel happy," she said.
The statement from her family concluded: "We will all miss our mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, great-grandmother, a huge loss to everyone in Fossett's Circus and her many friends all over the country, Herta will always be loved and never forgotten."
