Last week Lero lost one of its long-time and most-respected colleagues. Professor Rory O’Connor, head of the Dublin City University School of Computing and a member of Lero since its foundation in 2005, died suddenly while abroad. A funeral mass for Professor O’Connor was celebrated on Saturday, July 27, attended by many of his Lero colleagues, as well as a wide circle of friends and family.

Professor Brian Fitzgerald, director of Lero, paid tribute to Professor O’Connor: “We are all shocked at the death of our dear friend and colleague, Professor Rory O’Connor, who contributed so much to Lero over the past 15 years. Rory was an excellent researcher and an enthusiastic member of Lero, but more importantly he was a loyal friend whose enthusiasm and sense of fun was infectious. Of course, the loss to his wife, Margaret, and children, Róisín and Cormac is greatest, but the many expressions of regret reveal the extent to which he will be missed by so many people in so many places across Ireland and the world”. 

 

 

As well as being a senior researcher with Lero, the Irish Software Research Centre, Professor O’Connor was also Head of Delegation for Ireland to the international standardisation bodies ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7 and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC40. He was also an active member of the ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7/ Working Group 24 on Lifecycle Profiles for VSE (Very Small Enterprises) and was Editor in Chief of the Elsevier Journal, Computer Standards and Interfaces.

Professor O’Connor received a PhD. in Computer Science from City University, London (2000), an M.Sc. in Computer Applications from Dublin City University (1995), a B.Sc. in Computer Applications from Dublin City University (1993) and a National Certificate in Computing, Waterford Regional Technical College (1990). He was also a member of both the Irish Computer Society and British Computer Society.

Professor O’Connor previously held research positions at both the National Centre for Software Engineering and the Centre for Teaching Computing. In addition, he worked with a variety of organisations, undertaking software development projects, conducting software quality reviews and inspections. He was a visiting lecturer to the University of Iceland in the 2007/8 academic year.

Professor O’Connor’s research interests were centred on the processes whereby software-intensive systems are designed, implemented and managed. In particular, researching methods, techniques and tools for supporting the work of software project managers and software developers in relation to software process improvement, software project planning and management of software development projects.

Lero will honour Professor O’Connor at the centre’s national gathering in September.

An online book of condolence is open here.