Olympic sailor Eddie Kelliher from Dun Laoghaire in County Dublin has died in his 98th year.

A Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) member for more than 62 years, the Killiney yachtsman was the RIYC's first Olympian. He represented Ireland in the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 1964 in the Dragon Class, sailing with Harry Maguire and Rob Dalton.

Born in 1920, Kelliher was a link to Dún Laoghaire's long tradition in the Dragon keelboat, and a reminder that until 1972 this three-man boat was also an Olympic class.

In February, when 160 Dragon sailors gathered at the Royal St. George Yacht Club for a 40–year reunion evening, Kelliher's Tokyo participation medal was displayed as an important artefact of class history.

In his ninties, he was still active in the Class Association and assisted in the staging of the Dragon World Championships on Dublin Bay in 2007, the first time the prestigious championship was staged on his home waters. 

Tributes have been paid by his RIYC club and the Irish Dragon Class Association.

Funeral arrangements are here