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Weekly Comment: The 24th Annual Eithne & Paddy Fitzpatrick Memorial Golf Tournament

By Irish America Staff
April 27, 2017

April 27, 2017 by Leave a Comment

New York, NY: The 24th Annual Eithne & Paddy Fitzpatrick Memorial Golf Tournament will be held on May 15th, 2017 at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club, one of the country’s most prestigious and attractive golf courses, located in Scarborough, NY.

Golf Tournament logo
(Photo: Eithne and Paddy Fitzpatrick Memorial Fund / Facebook)

The Eithne & Paddy Fitzpatrick Memorial Fund was created in honor of John Fitzpatrick’s late parents. Fitzpatrick, an Irish America Hall of Fame inductee and the 2010 Irish American of the Year, is the owner of the Fitzpatrick Hotel Group in New York. It was Fitzpatrick’s father who inspired his move to New York, he told Irish America in his Irish American of the Year interview.

“In the beginning, capital was very limited, but Dad was a great salesperson, and I remember the banker saying, ‘Paddy, you want to go to the States, but of all places to open a hotel you want to go to New York City, can you not pick somewhere else?’ And I remember Dad saying, and it sounds corny now, but at the time it got [the message] across, ‘Why not New York?’ He said, ‘It’s like the Frank Sinatra song, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.’ And I swear, I’ll never forget that day because all the bankers looked up and they couldn’t argue with him.”

In the same interview, he said it was the death of his mother that prompted him to start the foundation: “When Mum died, it was a huge shock to us. Dad was very successful but he wouldn’t have been a success without Mum. She was a great mother but she also helped him with the business. Where did I learn about interior design? I used to follow Mum around the hotel. Everybody knew Dad, but I was afraid as the years went on it would be all about Paddy Fitzpatrick and Mum wouldn’t be remembered. So I said, we’re going to do a memorial fund in honor of Mum.”

Since its inception in 1993, the fund has raised over $3.5 million for deserving charities in Ireland and the U.S. and works very closely with the Ireland Fund to find projects to support. These include organizations such as Barretstown, the Integrated Education Fund, the Irish Arts Center, the Mary Robinson Library and The O’Hanlon Park Boxing Club in Dundalk. The fund’s mission remains the same as it was from the beginning – to actively help better the lives of those in need.

Liam Neeson (center) attends the 2012 tournament. John Fitzpatrick is pictured at right.
Liam Neeson (center) attends the 2012 tournament. John Fitzpatrick is pictured at right. (Photo: Eithne and Paddy Fitzpatrick Memorial Fund / Facebook)

About The Eithne and Paddy Memorial Fund: The Eithne and Paddy Memorial Fund, was set up by the well-known hotelier John Fitzpatrick in memory of his late parents, Eithne and Paddy. The Memorial Fund works to raise funds in support of a diverse group of worthy organizations across the island of Ireland that focus on a range of much needed initiatives including expanding educational opportunities, helping families and children affected by serious illnesses, delivering social services to the elderly and fostering peace and understanding between people in troubled areas.

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For additional information, please contact Silhouette Group at 850-445-9034 or at FitzGolf@SilhouetteGroup.com.

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