Death of former Corbalton Hall owner, Pat McDonagh
OBITUARY
The death occurred on Wednesday 13th December, after a short illness, of Pat McDonagh, formerly of Corbalton Hall in Skryne, who was founder of the highly successful educational software company, Riverdeep. He died peacefully at the Mater Hospital, aged 72.
Corbalton Hall was home for 150 years to the Corbally-Stourton family, and was bought around the turn of the millennium by the McDonagh family, who spent two decades there before downsizing from the 358-acre estate near Tara.
Mr McDonagh was regarded as one of the most successful e-learning entrepreneurs of all time, and was founder of CBT/Smartforce (later SkillSoft), Riverdeep (K-12 Education), Thirdforce/Mindleaders, and Digisoft TV.
CBT was started in 1983 and listed on the NASDAQ in April 1995, reaching a $3 billion market capitalisation in the following years. Riverdeep listed on the NASDAQ in March 2000 and reached a market capitalisation of $1.8 billion on the day it floated. Chief executive, Barry O'Callaghan led a management buyout and took the company private in in 2003, and after O'Callaghan and Pat McDonagh bought the shares of venture capitalists, O'Callaghan bought Mr McDonagh's portion in 2006, later merging with Houghton Mifflin in the US to create the Education Media and Publishing Group.
Mr McDonagh invested in land in his native north County Dublin, and other investments included a elderly residential care company, DigiSoft.tv Ltd, a Cork-based technology company; and backing Arklow developer Greg Kavanagh in land investments in and around Dublin. He also owned a number of stud farms with large land holdings, where he bred horses.
In 2010, he was benefactor of a new school in Rolestown in north Dublin, which is named after him. Mr McDonagh owned the site on which the school was built and the deal involved a series of land swaps and agreements involving Mr McDonagh, the Catholic diocese, which is the patron body for the school, Fingal County Council, and the Department of Education.
Mr McDonagh reportedly gave €7 million towards the school, while the Department gave €4 million. The school was opened by the late Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, in February 2010.
He was also very generous to Skryne GFC during his time at Corbalton, and supported Fingal Ravens GFC in his native north Dublin. On Thursday, Fingal Ravens posted: ”It is with a heavy heart and profound sadness that we heard yesterday of the passing of our club president and honorary member, Pat McDonagh. Pat has been a true servant over generations to Fingal Ravens, as a former player, manager and chairperson. Pat was a true gentleman and a great friend to many of our members and will be truly missed by us all. Rest in Peace Pat, your lifetime's work here is now done, thanks for everything.”
Mr McDonagh is survived by his wife, Anne; family, Sorcha, David and Richard; grandchildren, Henry, David, Mary, Jack and Mikey; daughter-in-law Tracey, son-in-law Lorcan; brothers, John, Joe, Fozzy and James; sisters Marie and Trish, and extended family and friends.
A funeral took place privately.