The 2023 Flax Trust will honor three distinguished members of the Irish and Irish-American community. John Greed currently serves as Chairman, President, and Chief executive Officer of Mutual of America Life Insurance Company, John has been with Mutual of America for over 25 years. John serves on the board and executive committee of the Greater New York Councils of the Boy … [Read more...] about The 33rd New York Flax Trust/American Luncheon
September in Ireland
IA Newsletter January 13, 2024
A Journal of our Trip Through Ireland September 5, 2023: Aer Lingus JFK to Dublin, arriving the morning of the 6th. After an interesting taxi ride, during which the driver clued us in on what to expect: no guns, very safe city, no Union Jack flown anywhere in Ireland, EU (which “takes too much and gives too little”) was creating problems “forcing” Ireland to accept Ukrainians … [Read more...] about September in Ireland
The Empire Builders
The Irish who built the Empire State Building and the photographer who captured the work. In 1908, acclaimed photographer Lewis W. Hine snapped a simple portrait entitled “Irish Steel Worker.” The aged laborer has a weathered face and sad eyes. A pipe sprouts from his mouth. He sports suspenders, a thick handkerchief in his front pocket, and a woolen cap atop his … [Read more...] about The Empire Builders
Ireland: A Quilt of Many Patches and Colors
IA Newsletter August 26, 2023
It is somehow fitting that the Good Friday Peace Agreement of 1998 has become inseparable from Irish poetry. If, for a moment, “hope and history rhymed” or those involved in resolving the conflict “walked on air against their better judgment,” politicians and other speechifiers have poet Seamus Heaney to thank for their grab-bag of metaphorical phrases. In an earlier era of … [Read more...] about Ireland: A Quilt of Many Patches and Colors
Napoleon’s Doctor
The last few years of the great Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s life were spent with an Irishman. That Irishman was Barry O’Meara, a Dublin-born surgeon who caught the Emperor’s attention during his surrender on the British warship Bellerophon. This encounter would change O’Meara’s life, as he was personally requested by Napoleon to be his physician during his time on the island … [Read more...] about Napoleon’s Doctor





