Jim Moloney, ICOS Director, IAWS Chair
Survived by his wife Una, daughter Aoifean, extended family and a large circle of friends, Mr Moloney was laid to rest in Rathfarnham, Dublin.
He was born into a farming family in the intensive farming area of Barryroe in west Cork. He graduated from UCC with a degree in Economics and History and joined the Irish Agricultural Organisations Society (later renamed Irish Co-operative Organisation Society) in 1950, as a field officer in the Munster region.
He was appointed Assistant Secretary of the IAOS in 1963, and became its Secretary in 1978. Five years later he became Director General of the Society, playing a pivotal role in promoting the co-operative ideal and over-seeing its role in a time of fast increasing agri-business productivity in Ireland.
Actively involved in the creamery rationalisation programmes of the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s which shaped today’s dairy industry, Mr Moloney also represented Irish co-operatives on the board of COGECA, the central body of European agricultural co-operatives. He retired from ICOS in 1989, and in 1991, was appointed Chairman of IAWS Group PLC, where he had first joined the board of directors in 1981 of its predecessor, IAWS Co-operative. The co-op was founded in 1897 as a wholesale supplier to the growing agriculture industry. Mr Moloney chaired the group until 2003.
Under his chairmanship, IAWS became one of the most successful co-operatives in the country through growing and developing shareholder value, and re-positioning itself to become a major international food and agri-business group, reaching a turnover of nearly €1.5bn in 2005.
ICOS honoured him with the 2005 Plunkett Award for Co-operative Endeavour, for outstanding contribution to the rural co-operative movement in Ireland.
