It was with great sadness that we learned that former Executive Director of Trócaire Justin Kilcullen has passed away. Justin joined Trócaire in 1981 and worked for many years in Africa and Asia. Justin was appointed Executive Director in 1993 and held that position for 20 years until his retirement in 2013.
Born in Dublin, Justin graduated from University College Dublin in architecture. He began working overseas in Tanzania before moving to Asia, where he worked with UNHCR specialising in the design and construction of refugee camps for Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees. He joined Trócaire in 1981 as Africa Programme Officer and later served as Trócaire representative in Laos.
On his retirement in 2013, then Trócaire Chairman, Bishop John Kirby, paid tribute to the retiring director. He said Justin, driven by a personal conviction, “has devoted time, energy and huge commitment to work with people in some of the poorest countries in the world to improve their lives, while campaigning tirelessly in Ireland and internationally on their behalf”.
Caoimhe de Barra, current CEO of Trócaire, first joined Trócaire in 1997 and worked closely with Justin for many years. “Justin had a passion for justice and a deep belief in the dignity and rights of every human being which drove and defined him. He was fearless in his activism for human rights and for a more just world. He was a wise and generous leader who inspired and supported generations of people involved in development, humanitarianism, human rights and environmental work. He was kind and compassionate and has been taken from us far too soon. It is a sad day for many of us within Trócaire who were privileged to work with Justin and our thoughts are with his wife Róisín and his children at this difficult time.”
Justin Kilcullen is a past president of CIDSE – an international alliance of Catholic development organisations in Europe and North America – and of Concord, the confederation of European development NGOs, representing more than 1,600 such organisations across the European Union. Justin is a former Co-Chair and then Special Advisor to the Civil Society Partnership for Development Effectiveness, a constituent body of the UNDP/OECD Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation.
He was a member of the National Famine Commemoration Committee, served as a board member of SADAKA, the Ireland Palestine Alliance, and was a board member and the former Chair of Social Justice Ireland. He was also Convenor of SAGE-Shankill Action for a Green Earth, an ecumenical community initiative to counter climate change.
In 2002 Justin Kilcullen was awarded the Robert Matthew Medal by the International Union of Architects for his work on human settlements. In 2019, he was awarded a papal knighthood of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great.
We will remember Justin as a passionate, vocal and hugely committed advocate for justice who was enormously respected in and outside of the development sector.
Photo Caption: Archbishop Diarmuid Martin conferring Justin Kilcullen with a papal knighthood of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great in 2019.
Source: Trócaire website
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