Tributes paid to former councillor Kevin Conway
Tributes have been paid to former councillor Kevin Conway, who died after a long illness. Pictured is Mr Conway running his election campaign for the hospital ward at the Cork University Hospital. Picture: Dan Linehan
Tributes have been paid following the death of a former Cork County Councillor who ran his last election campaign from his hospital bed.
Kevin Conway, a former independent county councillor from Blarney, died at Cork University Hospital (CUH) on Saturday after a long illness.
His funeral Mass will be celebrated at 3pm tomorrow in line with public health guidelines, and will be streamed online.
Mr Conway was a community activist in Blarney for over 30 years. He served as chairperson of Blarney Community Council and took particular pride in helping to resurrect the tourist village’s St Patrick's Day parade in 2010.
He ran unsuccessfully as an independent candidate in the 2011 general election but stood again in 2014, winning a seat in the Blarney Macroom electoral area.
He had been battling multiple myeloma in recent years and underwent a stem cell transplant almost six years ago.
He spoke last year about a brush with death some months earlier while en route to an inter-county council meeting in Waterford.
Mr Conway felt unwell near Dungarvan and pulled off the road and said he was lucky to be alive after being found unconscious in the car by a woman he described as his Florence Nightingale.
He was rushed to Waterford University Hospital, where he spent a week being treated for sepsis, before being transferred to CUH.
Despite his illness, he stood in last year's local elections - the first since the city boundary extension, which brought Blarney into the expanded city.
He ran his campaign as an independent candidate in the city's north-west ward from his hospital bed.
He said at the time: “I know there is a view that I'm not up to the election but believe me, I have never fought so hard for myself and my constituents and I want that message to get out there loud and clear.
He was unsuccessful in his election bid.
The Mayor of Cork County, Cllr Mary Linehan Foley, said she was saddened to hear of his untimely death.
“Kevin and I were elected to the county council together and he was a great support to me during that time,” she said.
“He will be greatly missed by everyone who had the pleasure of crossing paths with him."
Mr Conway is survived by his wife Bernadette, their four children, Mary, Kevin, Carol, and Cormac, and his mother, Mary, who asked that donations, in lieu of flowers, be made to Cork University Hospital Charity.
An online book of condolences is available from tomorrow at www.yourcouncil.ie.
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