Rory O’Connor was born in 1928. A former journalist with the Irish Press and news editor of the Sunday Press, he was also head of RTÉ’s television news for fifteen years until his retirement in 1993. In the 1980s he was elected Honorary Chieftan of the newly formed O’Connor Kerry clan. In 1997 he was executive producer of Rivers or Words, a series of five television films on leading Kerry writers.