Untimely death of eco stove developer John Fagan

THE community of Ballydehob expressed its sympathies to the family of John Fagan, a great supporter of the village, following his recent death.

John was a founder of the successful Ballydehob Jazz Festival in 2007, which garnered a great profile for the pretty West Cork village. In more recent years he was known for developing an award-winning eco stove.

Having fought a long and brave battle in recent times, Mr Fagan of Cooragurteen finally succumbed to his illness and passed away peacefully in the presence of his family at Bantry Hospital. He was in his early 60s. 

A native of Dublin, John moved with his wife, Sonja, and their young son, John Lawrence, from Germany where he had lived for many years to make their home in Ballydehob, over a decade ago.  

He immediately got involved in community affairs which, among other things, saw him elected as chairperson of the Scoil Bhríde Parents’ Association and his passion for jazz music was instrumental in the launching of his brainchild – the first Ballydehob Jazz Festival – on the May Bank Holiday in 2007. 

Back then, as early broadband was beginning to be rolled out, Ballydehob featured in BT Ireland’s advertising campaign, which referenced a number of smaller towns throughout Ireland where BT Broadband was available. 

John astutely recognised a great opportunity and he succeeded in convincing BT to become the main sponsor of the festival in 2008.   

Always full of ideas, his development over four years of the super-efficient EirEco Stoves was his crowning achievement. 

His genius didn’t go unnoticed and EirEco Stoves was nominated in three categories for the 2015 Irish Green Awards — Green Entrepreneur of the Year, Green Product Award and Green Technology Award.  

EirEco was again nominated for the 2016 Irish Green Awards in the categories Green Manufacturer Award and Green Technology Award.  

Unfortunately, failing health at the end of last year meant that John was unable to continue to work on his award-winning enterprise.

With characteristic nobleness, John donated his body for medical research, and there was no formal funeral. However, there will a funeral service in his memory at a later date in St Matthias’ Church.