Billy Lawless, champion for immigration reform, passes in Chicago
In every march for immigration reform, amid all the Mexican and Central American marchers, you could always depend on one ruddy-faced Irishman leading a multiracial contingent of true believers behind the banner of “Chicago Celts for Immigration Reform.”
Billy Lawless became such a dependable voice for reforming United States immigration laws that he caught the attention of U.S. President Barack Obama, Irish President Michael D. Higgins, and other national and world leaders.
In 2016, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny appointed the Galway native-turned-Chicago Restaurateur to the Irish Seanad (Senate) to represent the Irish Diaspora around the world.
Lawless focused attention on the lesser-discussed problem of undocumented Irish immigrants, but he worked with other groups to advocate for a path to citizenship for all immigrants.
“It has got to be resolved,” Lawless said. “Politicians have been elected to make decisions, Well, it’s about time they rose up and made those decisions. Solve this issue of the undocumented, and this country will thrive.”
Lawless chaired the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. He lobbied for a bill that allowed undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses.
As an Irish senator, Lawless fought hard for the right of Irish living abroad like himself to be allowed to vote in Irish elections. His efforts won him an honorary doctorate from NUI Galway and a Presidential Distinguished Service Award for Irish Community Support from President Higgins.
“Billy was a stalwart of the Irish community … and his tireless efforts on behalf of the undocumented Irish were widely acknowledged,” President Higgins said. “Billy’s role in fostering the sister city relationship between Galway and Chicago was rightly recognized by Galway City Council in his being made a Freeman of Galway in 2015.”
Lawless passed away unexpectedly due to kidney failure at age 73 on November 8 in Chicago, mourned by friends and admirers on both sides of the Atlantic is survived by his wife, Anne (née O’ Toole); his children, Billy, Clodagh, Amy, and John Paul; eight grandchildren; his brother Gerald Lawless and his sisters, Helen Brennan and Mary Loughman.
– By Abdon Passasch
Dennis P. Long, a passionate advocate for soccer, passes in St. Louis
Dennis P. Long, a successful businessman, public servant, and tireless supporter of sports, passed away on Monday, October 28, 2024.
Long’s professional career began humbly as an office boy at Anheuser-Busch in 1953. But it was the start of a lifelong commitment to the company that would eventually see him rise to president and chief operating officer at 41.
In 1986, under his leadership, Anheuser-Busch became a sponsor of the Irish Derby, an annual event at the ancient Curragh racetrack in County Kildare and one of Europe’s top horse races.
Born in Chicago and raised in an Irish neighborhood in St. Louis, where his great-grandparents, originally from County Kerry, had initially settled, Long attended the local St. Columbkille parish school where he learned more about his Irish cultural heritage, solidifying a life-long appreciation for his roots. The tight-knit working-class community also gave Long the tools to succeed in business. As president of Anheuser-Busch from 1977 to 1987, Long nearly doubled the company’s beer sale volume, adding 35 million barrels and giving them a 33.6 million barrel lead over their nearest competitor. He did that by doubling the marketing staff, greatly expanding the advertising campaign, reaching out to specific groups, and taking the brand overseas, much to Ireland’s benefit.
Long also used his position at the world’s largest brewery to support his other passion – soccer. As president, he chaired the committee that developed the St. Louis Soccer Park (originally the Anheuser-Busch Center), made Anheuser-Busch a major supporter of the United States Soccer Federation bid for the 1994 World Cup tournament, and later became a global sponsor of the FIFA World Cup.
In 2011, as part of the 35th annual CBC High School Soccer Tournament celebrations, the St. Louis Soccer Park honored Long for his commitment and vision over the years, officially naming the complex’s main soccer pitch the Dennis P. Long Field.
Outside of his professional life, Long served as president of the United Service Organizations from 1984 to 1987, which helps over 10 million military service members and their
families. In 1987, he received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the highest honor that the Department of Defense can award to a civilian.
Long and his wife of 53 years, Barbara, who died in 2010, have three children, Tammie, Kelly, and Patrick, with whom he co-owned the successful fine-dining restaurant Sam’s Steakhouse in St. Louis. They also have several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Denny was preceded in death by his wife, his parents and six siblings.
– By Irish America staff
Ethel Kennedy, remembered for her lifetime of service
Ethel Kennedy, the wife of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, died on October 10, 2024, at age 96 in Boston following complications from a stroke.
President Joe Biden and former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama delivered remarks in celebration and remembrance of Ethel’s life and legacy during her memorial service at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C.
Ethel was laid to rest beside her husband in Arlington National Cemetery.
President Biden
Bobby Kennedy was one of my political heroes. But Ethel Kennedy was a hero in her own right, full of character, integrity and genuine empathy.
“We saw how she picked up Bobby’s cause and stamped her own mark on the country. Marching for civil rights, and working to end poverty at home, attempting to secure peace abroad, and so much more.”
She once said, “For anyone to achieve something, you have to show a little courage. You’re only on this Earth once. You must give it all you’ve got.”
Four years later, after she lost her beloved Bobby, she invited me and my boys to her home after the accident that left my family broken, having lost my wife and daughter, my boys barely making it. Along with Teddy, she got me through a time when I didn’t want to stick around. But Teddy and Ethel Kennedy would hear none of it. Ethel helped my family find a way forward with principle and purpose.
– President Joe Biden
President Clinton
I can’t even begin to say how grateful I am that [Ethel] lived to be 96 and that she had her energy, and her brain power, and her love power right through. And it would be wrong to dredge up every memory, but I am telling you, even on sad occasions when we observed anniversaries of her husband’s death, I never saw her when she didn’t have her game face on, even when her heart was heavy.
“I think the lesson of those 96 years and all those children and all those grandchildren, all those great-grandchildren, is that the God she worshiped wanted all of us to be more other-directed, to think more about how our words impact other people, how our deeds impact other people, how our lives show what we are for or against.
Every time I think of her, and I have thought of her ever since she passed. I think she was the embodiment of the definition of love that St. Paul wrote about in First Corinthians.
Not romantic love, but agape love for your fellow human beings. The total immersion in the wonder that every human life possesses.
– President Clinton
President Obama
Most Americans got to know Ethel as the woman who, standing alongside her husband Bobby, helped tap the idealism of an entire generation. The matriarch who instilled a commitment to justice in her children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren and helped raise a legion of change-makers and public servants. And she was proud of those roles. She loved family just as she loved friendship. But as anyone who ever met Ethel knows, she was a lot more than that. She was a big dose in a small package… She was a spitfire. Some of you have heard the stories. The school yearbook describing her as “alive with mischief” in college demerits for a long list of infractions, including chewing gum and “disorder in the tea room.”
“In the same way that her joy possessed her life, her love for people helped feed in her a righteous anger towards the many injustices in our world.”
Her life was marked by more tragedy and heartbreak than most of us could bear. And she would have been forgiven if, at any point, she had stepped away from public life or allowed bitterness to fester after all she and her family had been through. But that is not what Ethel did, because that’s not who she was.
We live in a time of such rancor and division and suspicion and loneliness. We isolate ourselves with gadgets and diversions, and we’re encouraged to chase after things that don’t last. And we have trouble distinguishing what is true from what is false. And we succumb to those voices that find it profitable to stoke anger and grievance. And even in resisting such voices, we so often find ourselves succumbing to cynicism or despair. What better time then to remember the life that Ethel Kennedy lived? She understood that our salvation comes from turning towards each other, not turning away. Someone who reminds us, by her example that life goes on no matter how deep the grief, that there is joy and purpose to be found no matter what hand we’ve been dealt, that each of us has the power, if we so choose, to make our world a little better and to make somebody else’s life a little better, and that we can have some fun and make some mischief in the process. What a gift. I sure did love Ethel Kennedy. I miss her. I miss her smile. I miss her warmth. I miss her generosity, and I miss her grace. May God bless her, and may she rest in eternal peace.
– President Obama
Note: The above are short excerpts of the remarks made.
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