From Seán Connery to Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela – the star-studded network of Tony O’Reilly

The former owner of Independent News & Media (INM) died in St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin on Saturday at the age of 88.

The former media magnate and international rugby player often rubbed shoulders with some of the most powerful political, business and sporting names in the world, befriending former presidents and leading political figures throughout his long career in sport and industry.

He earned his own celebrity on the rugby pitch, where he broke records and won the first of his 29 caps for Ireland at the age of 18.

The quintessential Irish brand of Kerrygold was his creation and he co-founded the Ireland Fund with American businessman – and the then owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team – Dan Rooney.

Mr O’Reilly was knighted by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in 2001 for his “long and distinguished service to Northern Ireland”, with his work through the fund remembered as one of his greatest lasting legacies.

His executive advisory board at INM in the UK at one point included James Bond actor Seán Connery, who described Mr O’Reilly as “an old friend”, and former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney.

Mr O’Reilly was photographed with other leading global figures throughout his life, including former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher, former US president George Bush and former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing.

US secretary of state Henry Kissinger described him as Ireland’s “renaissance man”, while former president Ronald Reagan sent him a video message for his 50th birthday.

Former US president Bill Clinton and senator Ted Kennedy were among the guests who visited Mr O’Reilly at his 750-acre Castlemartin estate in Co Kildare.

The businessman also enjoyed a close friendship with Nelson Mandela, who visited him in Castlemartin and the Bahamas and on whom he bestowed an honorary doctorate from Queen’s University Belfast in 2008.

An antique table and set of chairs at which Mr Clinton and Mr Mandela dined with Mr O’Reilly sold for more than €74,000 when furniture from his Castlemartin home was sold during a bankruptcy process in 2016.

His life was often star-studded, from dining with prolific figures in political life to treasures associated with the rich and powerful.

One of his gifts to his second wife, Chryss Goulandris, the daughter of a Greek shipping tycoon, was a €2.45m diamond ring.

It had originally been commissioned by Aristotle Onassis when he married former US first lady Jackie Kennedy after the assassination of her husband John F Kennedy.