February 11, 2011
By Staff Reporter
A brilliant businessman killed in the Cork air crash was dedicated to his education and his work, his former teacher said today, the Press Association reports
Pat Cullinan, 45, from near Omagh, Co Tyrone, was a partner at accountancy firm KPMG.
He studied economics as part of a course at Omagh College of Further Education from 1991 to 1993. He went on to get a first class honors degree at Queen’s University Belfast.
Former teacher Joe Byrne said: “He was mad for learning, he sucked up the learning and was a conscientious student. He was not brash or boastful, he got on with his work and was well-respected by his classmates.”
Cullinan lived in Belfast but visited his mother’s house regularly near Plumbridge in the picturesque Glenelly Valley.
Byrne added: “He was dedicated to his work.”
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He joined the Belfast office of KPMG in 1989, qualifying in 1993. He worked in London for several years and joined the company’s Dublin office in 2002. He later moved back to Belfast and was appointed a partner in 2005.
He advised domestic and international clients on a wide range of issues ranging from mergers and acquisitions, property, banking, international leasing, investment management, controlled foreign companies, financial products and structured finance.
Tom McBride, a cousin of Cullinan, said he was “first and foremost a very dedicated, loving family person.
“He was one of a family of five and never forgot his roots,” he added.