Former US ambassador to Ireland mourned

Richard Egan, who rose from street child to the US ambassador to Ireland after making millions of dollars founding data storage giant EMC Corp, died after a battle with lung cancer.

His family issued a statement saying Mr Egan died at his Boston home after being diagnosed with Stage Four lung cancer in May.

Mr Egan, 73, was an electrical engineer and a former US Marine Corps helicopter pilot who worked at Lockheed Martin, Honeywell and Intel before he co-founded data storage technology provider EMC in 1979.

He sold most of his shares in the tech boom, shortly before the bubble burst.

The self-made billionaire was a key fundraiser for the Republican Party and former President George W. Bush, becoming a Pioneer fundraiser for the president in 2000.

He stepped down as EMC chairman in January 2001, about three months before Mr Bush nominated him to be the US ambassador to Ireland.

Mr Egan was part of the MIT team that developed the Apollo Guidance Computer, which provided reliable real-time control for the Apollo spacecraft that carried US astronauts to the moon.

He is survived by his wife and five children.