Ben Dunne

Businessperson, Organization founder

1908 – 1983

81

Who was Ben Dunne?

Ben Dunne was born in 1908 on the shores of Carlingford Lough, in the

Co. Down village of Rostrevor. His first business venture was picking

berries with his brother which they sold to buy sheep, hoping to raise

the fare to emigrate to the America. However, he was noticed by a local

businessman as a young man who had a good business acumen and

commercial ability and he remained in Ireland.In 1926 he moved

to Drogheda to his first job as an apprentice at Andersons Drapery

store. He worked there without any pay for the first three months when

he progressed to earning 50 shillings per week. With a good

grounding in Andersons, he then moved to Cameron's Drapery Shop in

Longford and then to Roches Stores in Cork in the mid 1930's where he

gained wide experience in buying and there he made many contacts that

were to provide invaluable in later years. Ben Dunne met his wife Nora

Maloney during his time at Roches Stores and they were married for 44

years and had six children.As the company expanded, Ben Dunne

began travelling overseas and participating in annual conventions and

seminars held by the National Retail Merchants Association in the USA.

In 1970 they honoured him by electing him to the Board of Directors and

that year he was selected as the 'Most Outstanding World Retailer'Everyone

who worked with Ben Dunne said he had an instinctive feel for what

would sell well and he was intent on ordering what he believed

customers wanted. Staff remember him as 'a bit of a genius who was

often tough but always fair'.When he died in 1983, Ben Dunne

had overseen the development of 58 stores in the Republic of Ireland,

18 in Northern Ireland and one in Spain.

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Born
1908
Rostrevor
Spouses
Nationality
  • Northern Ireland
  • Republic of Ireland
Profession
Lived in
  • County Cork
Died
1983

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

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