birthday. In 1989, a second honorary MA was given to him, this time by NUI Maynooth. Decline Following his 80th birthday, which was attended by fifty people, Gannon finally settled down to retirement. A series of minor strokes followed, which eventually led to dementia and ultimately to his death, aged 88, in May 1999. Legacy The Cathal Gannon Early Music Room was opened in the Royal Irish Academy of Music in May 2003. It contained a harpsichord and clavichord made by Gannon, a Broadwood grand piano restored by him, and a square piano. Part of a transmitted RTÉ programme, Nationwide (17 January 2007), featured archive footage of Gannon and his instruments. Three RTÉ radio programmes, Bowman: Sunday Morning, broadcast on 12 November 19 and 26 November 2006, feature a 1983 interview with Gannon. Further reading Byrne, Al: Guinness Times: my days in the world’s most famous brewery. (Town House, Dublin, 1999) Zuckermann, Wolfgang Joachim: The Modern Harpsichord (Peter Owen, London, 1970) O'Neill, Marie: Grace Gifford Plunkett and Irish Freedom: tragic bride of 1916 (Irish Academic Press, Dublin & Portland, OR, 2000) Douglas-Home, Jessica: Violet: the life and loves of Violet Gordon Woodhouse (The Harvill Press, London, 1996) The Guinness Harp magazine, 'The quiet carpenter', March – April 1959, p. 19. The Guinness Harp magazine, photograph and caption, March – April 1960, p. 5. The Guinness Harp magazine, 'the most harmonious of all the musical instruments of the string-kind', Vol. 7, Christmas 1964, p. 7. The Financial Times, 'Men and Matters', 23 September 1965. The Evening Herald, 'Stradivarius of the harpsichord', 27 September 1965. Hibernia, 'Cathail (sic) Gannon's harpsichords', January 1968, p. 27. The Guinness Harp magazine, 'The quiet man', Autumn 1970, p. 39. Ireland of the Welcomes, 'The harpsichord-maker' by Fachtna O'Kelly, Vol. 21, No. 6, March – April 1973. Dublin Arts Festival programme for March 1974, p. 7. The Irish Times, 'Irish Musicians in China', Weekend supplement, 11 October 1980, p. 9. Irish Conservation Directory, compiled by Susan Corr, 'Keyboard Instruments' by Cathal Gannon, pp. 58 – 60. Irish Professional Conservators' and Restorers' Association, 1988. Early Music Organisation of Ireland (EMOI) magazine, obituary by Malcolm Proud, Vol. 2, No. 3, July 1999. References Bibliography 1910 births 1999 deaths Businesspeople from Dublin (city) Irish musical instrument makers Harpsichord makers