O’Lunney to be honored Friday

Hugh O’Lunney (second from right) is pictured at a 1916 Societies event in New York. Pictured (l-r) are: Kevin Martin (National Finance Officer, 1916 Societies), Bridget Brannigan, Mr. O’Lunney, and Martin Galvin.

 

By Irish Echo Staff

Hugh O’Lunney is the Irish American Heritage and Culture Committee Irish Man of the Year and the popular bar and restaurant owner and community activist will be honored by the committee on Friday, April 28 at an awards ceremony and reception set for Brooklyn Borough Hall. (Please note: an earlier report gave an incorrect date).

The committee promotes Irish heritage and culture among the 1.1 million students and 80,000 teachers in the New York City public schools system.

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In a letter to Mr. O’Lunney, the committee said that it noted O’Lunney’s love for his Irish heritage and his generosity in making available his business facility to promote thing Irish.

The letter highlighted one of many such instance, specifically a lecture by Ed Shevlin on John the “Yank” Kilgallon and the 1916 Eater Rising which formed the basis for one of the articles in the United Irish Counties Association publication “The 1916 rising: New York and Beyond.”

Past IAHCC Irish Man of the Year award recipients include internationally renowned architect Kevin Roche, the late Cardinal John O’Connor, and author and author Mary Higgins Clarke.

The awards ceremony is set for Friday evening from 5 to 7 p.m. at Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn.

The ceremony will include an oration by the IAHCC’s high school oratory contest winner.

 

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