Tony Ryan

Thomas Anthony "Tony" Ryan (2 February 1936 – 3 October 2007) was an Irish billionaire, philanthropist and businessman.

He was a founder of Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA) as well as co-founder of Ryanair with Christy Ryan and Liam Lonergan. Ryanair was believed to be the main source of his wealth in later life: the company is now one of the biggest airlines in Europe and is valued at over 10 billion dollars as of 2012.

Ryan held honorary doctorates from several universities, including Trinity College, Dublin, the National University of Ireland, Galway and the University of Limerick.

Business career

Born in Thurles, County Tipperary, Ryan worked for Aer Lingus, before going on to found their aircraft leasing arm, wet-leasing out their aircraft in the quieter winter months.

In 1975, with Aer Lingus and the Guinness Peat Group, he founded Guinness Peat Aviation (later GPA Group), an aircraft leasing company, with a $50,000 investment. GPA grew to be the world's biggest aircraft lessor, worth $4 billion at its peak. But its value dramatically collapsed in 1992 after the cancellation of its planned IPO. Ryan made €55m from the sale of AerFi (the successor to GPA) in 2000. Ryan was a tax exile who lived in Monte Carlo, but also owned a stud farm near his home in Dolla County Tipperary. He was the 7th wealthiest individual from Ireland in the Sunday Times Rich List 2007 with over €1.5bn(£1bn).

Tony Ryan (scientist)

Professor Anthony John Ryan, OBE is a polymer chemist and sustainability leader at the University of Sheffield. He is Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University's Faculty of Science and Director of the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures. He delivered the 2002 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures and has appeared on programmes including the BBC Radio 4 comedy and popular science series The Infinite Monkey Cage. He has collaborated on a range of arts and sciences projects with Professor Helen Storey from the London College of Fashion, University of The Arts.

Career

Ryan graduated with a BSc in Polymer Science and Technology from the University of Manchester in 1983, and a PhD from the same institution in 1988. He received a DSc from UMIST in 2004. His academic career began as a lecturer in Polymer Science at UMIST (1985-1988), followed by a NATO Research Fellow position at the University of Minnesota (1988-1989), before returning to UMIST as a lecturer in 1990. He was promoted to senior lecturer in 1994 and reader in 1995. In 1997 he joined the University of Sheffield's Department of Chemistry as a Professor of Physical Chemistry, becoming Head of Department from 1999 until 2004. He also served as Director of the University's Polymer Centre from 2000 until 2008, when he became Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Science. Ryan has been a Visiting Professor at the London College of Fashion, University of The Arts since 2009 and an Honorary Professor at Nanjing Tech University since 2014. In the 2006 New Year Honours, he received an OBE for services to Science.