'The city is poorer for his passing': Council pays tribute to 'icon of Cork', Ted Crosbie

Ted Crosbie pictured in 2018. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Tributes have been paid at Monday's meeting of Cork City Council to Ted Crosbie, the former owner of the Irish Examiner, who died at the weekend aged 91.

Fianna Fáil Cllr John Sheehan described Mr Crosbie as “an icon of Cork”.

“He has left a huge legacy in Cork. He was very much of Cork and for Cork and I think the city is poorer for his passing,” he said.

Fine Gael Cllr Joe Kavanagh said Mr Crosbie made an enormous contribution to Irish media over several decades, while independent Cllr Ken O’Flynn described his death as “a huge loss to the city”.

He recalled Mr Crosbie's sense of humour during a visit to his office in the Irish Examiner’s new offices shortly after it relocated to Assumption Road, in Blackpool, next door to the Revenue Commissioner’s office.

“Ted said it’s marvelous to be in Blackpool, right next to the tax office — I don't even have to spend money on a stamp. I can just open the window and throw it through to them,” he said.

Born Thomas Edward Crosbie in 1931, Ted was the great-grandson of Thomas Crosbie, who took over what was then the Cork Examiner newspaper in 1872.

Ted Crosbie. Picture: Dan Linehan

During his time with the company, he held roles as technical director and as chief executive, and helped introduce a raft of technological advances to the Examiner, and its sister paper The Echo, bringing both into the era of offset printing in 1976, many years before other national papers followed suit.

Mr Crosbie assumed the role of chief executive in the early 1980s, a position he remained in until 1993.

In 2013, the firm went into receivership. It was subsequently purchased by Landmark Media, a company backed by Mr Crosbie, and his son, Tom, who were shareholders of Thomas Crosbie Holdings.

When the Irish Times acquired Landmark in 2018, Ted Crosbie's five-generation-long family association with the Examiner came to an end.

He will be buried on Tuesday following Requiem Mass at 12pm at St Peter and Paul’s Church in the city centre.

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