Edgar Deale: Obituary

He was always self-deprecating about his composition. 'I have a small talent', he'd say, but he loved music and singing and it was probably his business instincts that made him want to see his compositions put to work rather than languishing on the shelf. As a result, many of his choral works were published by Oxford University Press and others and until just before his death he was preparing a new carol for publication.

Although he spent his working life as a leading insurance manager, apart from his composition Edgar Deale will be remembered for his role in the foundation of the Music Association of Ireland and as the editor of the first published catalogue of twentieth-century Irish music. He was also a governor of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, president of the Culwick Choral Society and the founder of the Irish Association of Civil Liberty and the Safety First Association. He had a wide and eclectic circle of friends and kept in touch with all of them. 'I can't understand how people get bored', he used to say. 'The day is never long enough for me'.