By Bernie Ní Fhlatharta

Many are lucky to have led one good life – but some, like Billy Lawless, got to pack in a few careers, not only in his hometown but later in the United States, where he died last Friday following a short illness.

There was no shortage of tributes to the Bushypark native, since news of his death emerged – because he was a true ambassador of Galway City and a friend to all.

Billy (73) often joked how lucky he was to have lost the local election, where he stood as a Fine Gael candidate in 1991, because he might never have emigrated to the US, where he became a successful businessman.

And subsequently of course, he became close to the Obama administration.

He had a yen to emigrate when he was younger but as the eldest in a family of dairy farmers in Rahoon, he had the responsibility of taking over the farm. Most of its pastures were in Dangan, long sold off since to become part of the University of Galway campus.

Billy finished his formal schooling when he left the Jes to concentrate on the farm. But even then, he had the foresight to establish the Tribesmen Rowing Club, after becoming a rower – and an elite one at that. He used to say that part of his training was carrying two six-gallon drums of milk during his delivery round of city hotels and restaurants.

As the dairy business changed and the land was gradually sold, Billy became a publican and indeed created three iconic pubs in the city — the Gallows in Prospect Hill, the Tribesman (now Taaffe’s) in Shop Street and Trigger Martyn’s (now Tigh Chóilí) in Mainguard Street as well as taking over the Twelve Pins Hotel in Barna, now the Twelve.

He was a natural publican thanks to his gregarious manner, his interest in people and his ability to talk to just about anybody.

A lifelong member of Fine Gael, it was the natural progression to represent the party but in a strong field of candidates including Michael D. Higgins, he lost by two votes!

Naturally he was disappointed, but it wasn’t in his make-up to mope – and he concentrated on his businesses and became a great campaigner for his fellow publicans through the Irish Vintners Association of which he became president.

A chance visit to the States led to his decision – at the age of 49 and with a grown family – to emigrate to Chicago in 1998.

There he invested in his first pub, the Irish Oak near the famous Wrigley’s Field, and he soon added to his portfolio by opening the Gage, a high-end bar and restaurant on Michigan Avenue, where this time his clients paid their bills with Gold American Express cards.

And yet no matter where he was located, Billy always hired Irish staff when he could, many of them on the J1 student visa for the summer months. That was how he became acutely aware of problems being faced by the undocumented.

By then, Billy had become friendly with Mayor Richard Daley and subsequently became a Barack Obama supporter.

He once said he had visited Capitol Hill more often that he had Dáil Éireann. He wasn’t exaggerating.

He often organised visits to the White House during the Obama years and was a frequent visit to the Irish Embassy in Washington.

The Chicago Celts for Immigration became Billy’s next big campaign which in the early Noughties raised issues relating to the twelve million undocumented, not all of them Irish. He became their chairman and a board member of the Illinois Coalition for Refugee Rights.

Many Irish parents got to know Billy through his support for their undocumented child, not only on immigration issues but as a ‘go-to’ adult in Chicago for a number of reasons. His bars were the unofficial embassies for Irish students and a welcome ‘home away from home’ for his Irish visitors, most of them Galway.

Billy was made a senator by the then-Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, serving from 2016 to 2020.

His friend, former city councillor, Pádraig Conneely described Billy as ‘a larger-than-life character’ who would be sorely missed by many.

He lived life to the full and anything he did, he did it well. One of Pádraig’s memories of visiting Billy in the States was being brought to the White House where he sat in the Oval Office with Billy and Obama. Neither Galwayman had predicted that scenario for sure.

He was made Irishman of the Year in Chicago in 2008 making him the first ever recipient of the Fr Flanagan Boys Town Award, whose work with orphans was celebrated in Spencer Tracy’s film, Boys Town.

Billy has been described as a gentle giant by many over the past few days, but he will also be remembered as a grafter and for his generosity, which was legendary.

He visited Galway regularly and spent his time catching up with family and friends, never forgetting where he came from.

He had bought a site on the Old Bog Road in Menlo some years ago and had built a house which in recent years became his haven. Indeed he often talked of retiring there.

Sadly, it was not to be. His wife Anne and children, Billy, Clodagh, Amy and John Paul remain in Chicago where they are involved in the hospitality empire built up by their father.

Mayor Peter Keane has travelled to Chicago for the funeral which takes place today (Thursday) in St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Illinois. A memorial is to be held in Galway on Friday, December 6, which will be live streamed.

He is also survived by his brother Gerald and sisters Helen and Mary as well as his beloved grandchildren and extended family.

Pictured: The late Billy Lawless…life lived to the full on both sides of the Atlantic.