The grandson of Holocaust survivor and table tennis champion Josef Veselsky has said he will be remembered as a "larger than life" character, who was kind.
Mr Veselsky, who was reputed to be Ireland's oldest man, died on 3 January at the age of 107.
He was born in 1918 in Trnava, former Czechoslovakia, on the same day the Czechoslovakian republic was declared.
At the age of 20, following Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia, he joined the Resistance and survived the war in the Carpathian Mountains.
Following World War II, he went on to captain the Czechoslovak national table tennis team, representing his country at the highest level.
The European Table Tennis Union said in a statement that the international table tennis community is mourning the passing of Mr Veselsky.
His parents and elder brother were murdered in Auschwitz, which was "a loss that left an indelible mark on his life", according to the European Table Tennis Union.
For his bravery, he was later awarded the Order of the Slovak National Uprising.
In 1949, Mr Veselsky and his wife Katarina (Kathy) escaped the post-war political regime and emigrated to Ireland, where, despite having little English and no business background, he established a successful jewellery business.
His grandson Nicholas Browne said his grandfather was a kind man who took time to listen and have conversations with people from all walks of life.
Speaking to RTÉ's News at One, he said Mr Veselsky only found out the details about the deportation of his parents and brother to Auschwitz later in life.
"He was initially very upset to see that in writing: when they were taken, where they were taken and when they were killed. The record-keeping by the Nazis was that good - that they had all this information written down," said Mr Browne.
"He cried then and my father had never seen him cry. For him it was some kind of closure and relief – to know what exactly had happened."
Following the communist and Soviet takeover of Czechoslovakia after the war, Mr Veselsky felt unsafe again and decided to leave the country. He had initially wanted to go to Australia but his daughter, Mr Browne's mother, was too ill to travel.
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"He heard through some contacts that Ireland was a good place to go and that he would be able to move to Ireland and so they moved here in 1949," Mr Browne said.
Mr Browne said his grandfather found his passion in table tennis, both as a player and as a coach around Dublin and Wicklow.
Mr Veselsky played a central role in the development of table tennis in Ireland, eventually becoming Life President of the Irish Table Tennis Association.
In recognition of his legacy, the Joe Veselsky Award was established to honour achievements in table tennis administration within Ireland.
Even in later years, he remained intellectually and socially active, the European Table Tennis Union said.
Known as Ireland's oldest student, he attended courses at Trinity College Dublin, where he was awarded an honorary degree in 2016.
Mr Browne said his grandfather attended lectures for over a decade and that the honorary degree was a testament to his life long learning.
"Mr Veselsky's life stands as a testament to the unifying power of sport, the endurance of the human spirit, and the values that table tennis seeks to promote across generations," the TCD Students Union said in a statement.
"He is survived by his children Peter and Kate, and by a legacy that will continue to inspire the table tennis community in Europe and beyond."
Mr Veselsky's funeral service will be held at 10am on Wednesday, in the Victorian Chapel at Mount Jerome Crematorium in Harold’s Cross, Dublin.
