Marian Finucane ( ; 21 May 1950 – 2 January 2020) was an Irish broadcaster with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). She began working with the national broadcaster in 1974, starting as a continuity announcer. She was the first presenter of Liveline and presented The Marian Finucane Show at weekend lunchtimes on RTÉ Radio 1 until her death. Career Marian Finucane was born in Dublin and educated at Scoil Chaitríona, Glasnevin. She studied architecture at Dublin College of Technology in Bolton Street. Finucane practised as an architect until 1974 when she joined RTÉ as a continuity announcer, having been recruited by Eoghan Harris. In 1976 she became a programme presenter, working mainly on programmes concerned with contemporary social issues, especially those concerning women, in particular Women Today. Finucane in 1979 was the recipient of a Jacobs' Award for Women Today. Her Liveline radio programme was a combined interview and phone-in chat show on weekday afternoons. In 1980 Finucane won the Prix Italia for a documentary on abortion: she interviewed a woman who was about to have an abortion, had travelled with her to England, been with her in the hospital and talked to her afterwards. The Radio Journalist of the Year Award followed in 1988. Her television work included information programming on RTÉ such as Consumer Choice and the Garda investigation programme Crimeline. On Gay Byrne's retirement in 1999, Finucane took over his mid-morning radio slot to present The Marian Finucane Show. Another broadcaster, Joe Duffy, took over Liveline. On 24 June 2005, Finucane presented her final Marian Finucane Show in the weekday morning timeslot. Later that afternoon she received an honorary degree from NUI Galway. Apart from recognising her media work, this degree was in recognition of her work raising funds, along with Clarke, towards the building of an AIDS hospice and orphanage in Cape Town, South Africa. In June 2005 she was replaced in her radio timeslot by Ryan Tubridy; in turn she took over morning slots on Saturday and Sunday. Personal life and death Finucane grew up in Glasnevin in Dublin. Her father Daniel Finucane was a Garda sergeant, and her mother Maura Finucane was a teacher at Francis Xavier School. Her father died when she was 12. Her first marriage ended in separation. She then had two children with her partner, John Clarke. Their daughter developed leukaemia and died, aged eight, in 1990. She and Clarke married