‘We loved hanging out with him, he was a super dad’

GERRY RYAN’S heart-broken widow, Morah, spoke of how proud he would have been of the way their children conducted themselves at his funeral.

“They are the best of both of us,” she said, her voice breaking. “He was always so proud of them but he would be so proud of them today. He adored them and he was adored by them.”

Morah said she could not begin to grasp how her children felt at the sudden loss of their father but she and their extended family would be there for them as he always was.

She particularly wanted to thank the Ryan Show women who put her husband on air every morning – his other family.

She also thanked former RTÉ producer, Bill O’Donovan, who decided her husband should move to daytime radio in 1988.

And she thanked the former RTÉ head of television and personal friend of her husband, Liam Miller, for calling to their home close to midnight many years ago and ensuring he did not leave RTÉ to join another station.

“Gerard belonged in RTÉ – it was his home,” she said.

She also wanted to thank her husband’s bigger family – his listeners, who were so important to him.

“We are surrounded by love and we thank you.

“You are the reason he got up every morning. The minute the little red light went on in the studio he lit up and he was yours,” she said.

She also wanted to extend her sympathy and the sympathy of her entire family to Melanie Verwoerd, the broadcaster’s partner of 18 months.

Mr Ryan’s eldest child, Lottie, 24, said her father always put his children first; was her best friend and a free guidance counsellor throughout her life.

“You all knew Gerry Ryan as the motor-mouth broadcaster, but, obviously, what we’re more familiar with is him as our loving dad and, as our dad, he was pretty much a textbook super dad.”

“From the word go we have wanted for nothing during our entire lives. If we ever needed anything, and I mean anything, he would drop whatever he was doing, wherever he was to help us.”

They always knew that they came first, as far as their “one in a million” father was concerned.

“We loved just hanging out with Dad. He was a also a friend to us and someone we could have a laugh with,” she said.

She recalled watching Michael Jackson’s film, This Is It, and how her father spoke about how awful it was to lose a legend before he had reached his prime.

“Little did we know we would be standing here today speaking about Dad in the same situation,” she said.

“To quote from one of Dad’s favourite films, Blade Runner, ‘the light that burns twice as brightly burns twice as fast’. And how brightly he has shone.”

Rex, 20, the second eldest, said the support they had received since their father’s death had made everything a bit easier to bear.

He described how the broadcaster was the definition of a cool dad.

He said his father was a rock during his early teenage years and a walking encyclopaedia who always seemed to know the answer to every question.

“We had a true father-son trust that stayed strong always,” he said.

Rex said he became more fascinated by his dad as he got older.

“The way he entered a room and instantly injected energy into it. The way he captured an audience.”

His father was a man who was too big for this world.

“He was a true believer in cherishing and enjoying life and making every second count, which he most certainly did.”

Rock group U2 sent a special recorded message from New York

“Calling from New York on the Ryan Line, Ryan Line still open,” said Bono before the band performed their track With or Without You.

“Goodbye Gerry, see you down the road,” the band’s front man added at the end.