Josef Veselsky dies, aged 107 - Holocaust survivor, table-tennis champ and League of Ireland devotee

For those of us who knew him though, it’s the big smile that will probably stick the most in our minds.

Josef Veselsky, second from right, is presented with the Special Merit Award from left, Mark McCadden, SWAI President, Ronan Brady, Head of Marketing, SSE Airtricity, Liam Tuohy Junior and Philip Quinn, SWAI, during The SSE Airtricity Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland Awards 2016 at the Conrad Hotel in Dublin. Photo by David Maher/Sportsfile

The Austro-Hungarian Empire still existed when Joe Veselsky was born. Granted it was 1918 and only weeks away from collapsing but that’s the level of history Joe, as he was known to everyone, lived through.

Since the announcement of his passing at 107 years of age, much has been said about the life he led. A survivor of the Holocaust and the last survivor of the resistance movement in Slovakia, Trinity’s oldest graduate, and a man who came to Ireland almost by accident.