Tributes continue to be paid to Clayton Love Jnr, the accomplished sailor and leading businessman who made a remarkable contribution to Ireland’s marine sector.
As The Sunday Independent reports, he left a distinct footprint on his native city through his retail and property development, while his many titles reflected his wide range of interests, from president of Cork Chamber of Commerce to deputy chair of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).
He was also chairman of Beamish and Crawford, admiral of Royal Cork Yacht Club, president of the Irish Yachting Association (IYA) and board member of Fota Wildlife Park.
Born in 1929 and reared in Cobh, he attended school at the Christian Brothers in Cork, and then joined the family’s retail and wholesale business in St Peter’s market in Cork’s Cornmarket Street.
His father developed a successful fish processing business in Church Street, Dublin, which supplied Bird’s Eye, while Clayton Jnr was charged with managing the family’s Cork interests.
His visionary approach mirrored the growth of southern capital, as he built Cork’s first shopping centre in Douglas in 1971, five years after Dublin’s first in Stillorgan.
His company the Shipton Group developed about 500,000sq ft of retail outlets in total in Douglas, Wilton and Blackpool, extending to Carrigaline and Fermoy.
Throughout his career, Clayton Love Jnr retained a strong connection with Cork harbour. He had inherited his father’s love of sailing, and Afloat maritime journalist WM Nixon says a voyage he undertook as a teenager reflects his early resilience.
In 1944, he and several friends sailed his father’s boat, a 35ft cutter named Tertia, built in 1898, from Cork harbour to Dublin Bay. He was just 15 years old, and the young crew had no engine back-up if they got into any trouble. The Irish Sea was strewn with mines, the D-Day landings were taking place in Normandy, and the young crew received a hero’s welcome and a hearty breakfast at the Royal Irish Yacht Club.
Love’s initial passion was dinghy sailing, and he won a helmsman championship in the IDRA 14 class and continued in the 505 class where he competed at international level.
He was very involved in the Irish Dinghy Racing Association, which became the IYA and latterly the Irish Sailing Association. He managed the Irish sailing team at the 1960 Olympic Games in the Bay of Naples, and was IYA president for a decade.
He had named many of his earlier craft “Miss Betty”, after his first wife, and among his keelboats were Big Apple, a 44 ft aluminium yacht designed by Ron Holland and owned with Coveney and Ray Fielding.
He presided over the amalgamation of the Royal Munster and Royal Cork yacht clubs and was also involved with Coiste an Asgard, which was responsible for the sail training ship, Asgard II. He also pioneered the opening of an inshore lifeboat station at Crosshaven.
