TRIBUTES have poured in for well-known Limerick “gentleman” artist and artefacts buff George Byrne who passed away peacefully at his home at Colbert Park on February 19.
The 84 year old, who established a museum of rare coins and antiques at his Janesboro home, passed away peacefully in the presence of his sister, Violet, and loving family.
However, George was perhaps better known as a former traffic control employee at the Limerick Regional Hospital (University Hospital Limerick), where he spent many years ensuring patients and their loved ones were securely parked while attending the hospital.
From consultants and paramedics to doctors and nurses, porters and close colleagues, George was regarded by all as “kind”, “friendly”, and a “larger than life character”.
“Thank you for your service George. Rest now in your well-deserved heavenly peace,” wrote one former colleague in a book of online condolences.
Former colleagues at UHL posted a wave of tributes, with many recalling George’s reputation as a pure “gentleman”.
“George always had a kind word and a friendly smile for everybody who crossed his path in the Regional,” wrote a former HSE colleague.
Neighbours also paid tribute, mourning the late George “who always lived to chat when he passed by our house”.
In 2014, George proudly showcased a 300-year-old coin he got for a €100 bargain at Oxfam on William Street, which turned out to be a gun-money shilling, dated November 1689, and made from old brass cannon and church bells, minted in Dublin and Limerick.
The popular bachelor from Colbert Park said at the time that a coin expert had explained to him that find had been issued by James II prior to the Battle of the Boyne and was to be redeemed in silver had James defeated King William III.
George had proudly showed off the rare coin and other artefacts at a museum he established at his home, which also included a Penny Farthing bike dating back to Napoleonic times, a First World War helmet, and a Queen Victoria sword.
George had also pursued his love of art and painted most, if not all, of the presidents of the USA, from Abraham Lincoln to John F Kennedy, George Bush, Bill Clinton, as well as Presidents of Ireland Michael D Higgins and Mary McAleese.
His funeral mass, which will be streamed online at stjosephsparish.ie/webcam, takes place at St Joseph’s Church on O’Connell Avenue from noon on Monday (February 24), with burial afterwards in Castlemungret Cemetery.
Pre-deceased by his parents Thomas and Mary, brothers Simon, Anthony, and sister Betty, George is survived by his sister Violet, nephews Noel, Thomas, and Kenneth, nieces Sandra and Irish, grandnieces and grandnephews, as well as a wide circle of family, friends, and neighbours.
