Former Anglo Irish Bank CEO Sean FitzPatrick Dies 

(Bloomberg) -- Sean FitzPatrick, the former chief executive officer of Anglo Irish Bank Group Plc, which collapsed amid the 2008 property crash and helped tip Ireland into among the worst economic crises in its history, has died. 

FitzPatrick, 73, died on Nov. 8 after a short illness, state broadcaster RTE reported on Tuesday, citing a family spokesman. 

As chief executive of Anglo Irish from 1986 to 2005 and then chairman until 2008, FitzPatrick helped transform the firm into one of the nation’s biggest banks during the economic boom in the early years of this century -- a period which became known as the Celtic Tiger. 

Much of that growth came from loans to construction and real estate as prices soared. When values began to collapse in 2008, Anglo Irish Bank fell apart. 

The Irish government ultimately paid close to 30 billion euros ($35 billion) to prop up the firm as part of a wider rescue of the nation’s banks and took control of the company. The fall-out from rescuing the sector was a key factor leading to Ireland needing a bailout in November 2010.

Fitzpatrick had already stepped down from Anglo Irish, leaving in December 2008 after failing to fully disclose 87 million euros in loans from the bank. 

Once a leading figure in Irish business, FitzPatrick became the poster child for the banking sector and its role in the economic crash. He was declared bankrupt in 2010. In 2014 FitzPatrick was acquitted of charges of allowing unlawful loans to clients so they could purchase shares in Anglo Irish and in 2017 of charges of hiding loans.

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