“The Irish in Boston, as elsewhere, have an ability to see opportunity where there was none, and if none came, to look for it, to look for opportunity.”
– Rose Kennedy, the matriarch of the Kennedy family, regarding the Irish American experience.
We are delighted to bring you this issue celebrating our 2025 Business 100 – trailblazers all – and a testament to the ever-expanding scope, power, and accomplishment of the Irish diaspora.
Chief among our honorees is Maggie Timoney – the first woman to head up a global beer company, and only the sixth woman in the long, long history of the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade to lead the marchers up Fifth Avenue.
Maggie’s story – of going from an immigrant on a basketball scholarship to the heights of corporate America – is inspiring, and we are delighted to have her as the cover story on an issue that celebrates 40 years of publishing Irish America.
Four decades is a milestone we are proud to have achieved. It represents thousands of stories gathered and told, countless interviews across kitchen and boardroom tables, and an unbroken commitment to documenting the Irish experience in all its complexity.
It is a legacy built story by story, issue by issue, and year by year, by people who believed – fiercely – that our stories mattered and that by preserving them, we honor the sacrifices of those who came before us.
And that rich trove of stories is now available online, thanks to Eileen Murray’s support of Irish America’s archiving project made in memory of her mother, Bridget, who traveled here alone as a 14-year-old and went on to forge a life rich in all things that matter, for her husband and nine children.
“Such [is the] stuff as dreams are made on.”
To better understand the origin story of Irish immigration during the Great Hunger, we encourage you to visit The Dunbrody Famine Ship and Irish Emigrant Experience in New Ross, Wexford. We couldn’t have found a better place to house our Irish America Hall of Fame, bringing the story back home of what happened to those immigrants once they reached these shores.
Over the past 40 years of publishing, Irish America has had some wonderful team members who helped us meet our goals and get us over the finish line into a printed edition to be proud of. Thanks to all the writers, interns, and salespeople who helped bring it to fruition.
To the magazine’s long-time designer, Marian Fairweather, who has given us a look to be proud of – huge thanks. In recent years, Mary Cucinell’s marketing ingenuity has helped keep us afloat.
Thanks to Jim McCann, whose 1-800-Flowers have graced our tables at every event, and Tourism Ireland, and the DFA, who have supported us over many years. Likewise, Invest Northern Ireland, whose U.S. Chief, Andrea Haughian, is our 2025 Spirit of Ireland Awardee, in appreciation of her phenomenal work on behalf of the Northern counties.
And, a final thanks to Niall O’Dowd, who dreamed up this venture in 1985. I am proud to have played a part in helping to transform that vision into reality, and move it from “what if” to “why not.”
Mortas Cine.
Patricia Harty
Sign up for our weekly digital newsletter on www.irishamerica.com, and check out our Bridget H. Murray Digital Library for more stories from our archives.
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