Peadar (Peter) O’Dowd, who died on January 3, 2024, at the age of 82, will be remembered as a lecturer, a newspaper columnist, a great Galway historian, and a prolific author. Born in Bohermore, Galway City, on June 29, 1941, Peadar was the eldest of four children. His formal education started at St Brendan’s Primary School in Woodquay, Galway, where he developed a life-long interest in nature, especially birds, trees, and shrubs. After his secondary education as a day pupil in St Mary’s College from 1954 to 1959, he attended University College Galway, graduating in 1962, and with a Higher Diploma in Education the following year. His first teaching post was in Abbeyknockmoy Vocational School in County Galway before going to Glenamaddy for eight happy years until the end of 1972. In January 1973, he was appointed as a lecturer in business studies, and later in heritage studies, in the newly established Regional Technical College in Galway, giving outstanding service until his retirement on August 31, 2006. There, Peadar gravitated towards the Archaeological, Historical, and Folklore Society, which organised an annual programme of lectures and outings. Peadar became hooked on all aspects of heritage, and in effect developed a parallel career in that field.

  Peadar became a gifted communicator with the ability to convey his wide knowledge of Galway’s heritage with clarity, precision, and language, always stating that he was writing for the general reader and not the specialist. His books include Galway City Waterways: A Walking Guide (1985), Old and New Galway (1985), Vanishing Galway (1987), Galway: Heart of the West (1991), Touring Galway: A Guide to County Galway (1993), Down by the Claddagh (1993), The Great Famine and the West (1996), Galway on the Bay (2002, with Derek Biddulph and Dick Byrne), In From the West-the McDonagh Dynasty (2002), Galway in Old Photographs (2003), A History of County Galway (2004), Galway Lawn Tennis Club (2005), Christmas Tales of Galway (2006), More Tales of Galway (2007), Final Tales of Galway (2008), Tracing Your Galway Ancestors (2011), The Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora: An Illustrated History (2011), St Mary’s College Galway Centenary 1912-2012 (2012), and editing his last book in 2018, Glenamaddy Boyouragh: Our People-Our Heritage.

  He became a weekly columnist with the Connacht Sentinel from 1992 until November 2014, and thereafter with the Connacht and Galway City Tribune to his last article on December 29, 2023. He also contributed articles to various publications like Galway Life, Galway Now, Galway Roots, Ireland’s Own, New Horizon, and the Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society.

  Peadar gave numerous public lectures on various aspects of Galway’s heritage, conducted innumerable tours, broadcast on radio and television, as well as serving for 13 years as secretary of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society and five as president. He was also a member of the Old Galway Society, the Royal Society of Antiquaries, and a director of Galway Civic Trust. One of the people Peadar impressed during a walking tour of Galway was the wife of Richard Daley, Mayor of Chicago. This led to her nominating Peadar and his wife, Mary, to be invited to Chicago as the Irish representatives for a big celebration on December 31, 1999 to inaugurate the new millennium with two representatives from every country in the world. One of the Rehab Galway People of the Year in 2003, he received a mayoral award in 2007, an honorary MA degree from the National University Galway in 2011, and was honoured by Galway City Council for their huge contribution to local heritage in 2013. Galway has lost a great champion.