Death of former Marist College principal

The death has occurred of former Marist College principal Br Gerard Cahill.

Br Gerard was principal of the Athlone schools for 30 years, from 1969 to 1999.

Originally from Corrandulla, Co. Galway, and christened PJ Cahill, Br Gerard first moved to Athlone in 1947 initially as a boarder in Our Lady's Hermitage in Athlone. When he was 18, he was asked if he wanted to try out the novitiate for the Marist Order, the training for which was then done in the hermitage in Athlone.

After a two-year period, he was professed as a Marist brother and proceeded to the training college at De La Salle College, Waterford, where he qualified as a primary teacher. From 1955 to 1958, he taught in the Marist primary school in Athlone.

Br Gerard was an avid Gaelic games enthusiast and was part of the Athlone GAA team which completed a legendary six-in-a-row of senior county football championship finals from 1954 to 1960.

In 1958, he was transferred to Clondalkin and worked there for eleven years, during which he qualified as a secondary school teacher at UCD.

When he returned to Athlone in 1969, it was as principal. As the 18th principal of the school, Br Gerard replaced Br Colman as headmaster in the summer of 1969 and stepped down at the end of the 1998/99 academic year before being replaced by Br John Hyland.

The 30 years of Br Gerard's term witnessed the most dramatic changes for the Marist College. In 1974 the present secondary school in Retreat was opened which made immediately available 20 acres for recreational facilities. These were augmented in later years with the construction of the school gym in 1980. In 1978 the Hermitage was closed as a novitiate and boarding school.

In 2009, Br Gerard was chosen as the overall Athlone Person of the Year in recognition of 'six decades of work in his chosen field' and a lifelong mission which had borne fruit in generations of young people.

Along with his contribution to education and GAA locally, Br Gerard was also a keen member of the West Midlands Holstein Friesian Breeders Club and a regular adjudicator at cattle shows.

The news of his passing was announced on social media by the school which said he was “a formidable man who left a great legacy in Marist College”.

Funeral details have yet to be announced.