Irish-American businessman behind online Irish language bookseller leaves €14m estate

Irish-American businessman Tom Fitzgerald, founder of technical manual firm Bard na nGleann company and online Irish language bookseller Litriocht, left an estate valued at just over €14 million when he died in 2024.In his will published by the probate office this week, Fitzgerald made provision for his family and several Irish charities including the Simon Community, Focus Ireland and the Irish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA). He was a native of Cill Chúile in the west Kerry Gaeltacht, emigrated to the United States in the late 1960s and enlisted in the US Air Force during the Vietnam War. Following his discharge, he worked on the Alaska pipeline for three years before studying arts at the University of San Francisco and marketing and management at the London Business School.READ MOREHe set up Bárd International, a company based in Silicon Valley, writing technical manuals for large US companies such as Adobe, Intel, Nortel Networks and BT North America.While working both in Ireland and the United States during the 1990s, he set up Bárd na nGleann with headquarters at Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh (Ballingeary) in the west Cork Gaeltacht. The business is a significant employer in the area and has remote or contract employees across the US, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.Fitzgerald also established Litríocht, an online Irish language literature platform, in 1999. It has since become the world’s largest online Irish language bookshop with customers in more than 65 countries and a catalogue that extends beyond 6,000 books.Originally run from Cill Chúile on the Dingle peninsula, Litríocht is now based in Beal Atha an Ghaorthaidh, part of the Muskerry Gaeltacht in Co Cork.The online bookstore also focuses on Irish language learners and was twice the recipient of a Golden Spider Award for ecommerce, in 2008 and in 2013, and received a letter of gratitude from the US Library of Congress for its work cataloguing Irish books.Fitzgerald, who was also known as Tomas Mac Gerailt, also found time to be a founding chairman of Gaelscoil Bheanntraí in Co Cork. He and his wife, Sally, raised two children, William and Kate, who predeceased him in 2011. Fitzgerald died in California on January 27th, 2024, at the Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital in California. In his will, he left half of his estate, including his share in the family’s home at Sea Ranch, California, to his wife. He left a further 20 per cent of his estate to his son William. Fitzgerald also left sums of between €30,000 and €50,000 to his siblings, nieces, a nephew and grandchildren. Fitzgerald stipulated that a charitable trust in his name should be set up. Each year, for as long as the money lasts, sums of €5,000 are to be paid to the Simon Community of Ireland, St Colums GAA in Bantry, Focus Ireland and the ISPCA.