Ben Dunne's life had more than its fair share of ups and downs.
A larger-than-life character, he was one of Ireland’s most prominent and recognisable businessmen for around four decades.
He would likely have preferred that his 74 years would be remembered for his business prowess and for the role he played in growing Dunnes Stores into a huge retail empire in the 1980s.
But instead, history will also recall the many significant controversies he found himself embroiled in, including payments to prominent politicians.
Ben Dunne was born in Cork in March 1949, the youngest of six children, five years after his father, who was also named Ben, founded Dunnes Stores.
Ben Dunne senior built up the company into a successful chain of outlets in Ireland and the UK, becoming a prominent figure in the Irish corporate landscape.
And so by the time he left school, Ben junior was destined to enter the family business.
The success of the Dunnes empire brought risks though, relative to the time.
Kidnapping
In 1981, Ben Dunne junior became the target of an IRA kidnapping, taken from his car near the border and held in an unknown location for several days before being released unharmed.
The Dunne family denied paying a ransom, but it was widely reported at the time that the IRA received hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The terrifying episode had a lasting impact on Ben Dunne and perhaps shaped some of what was to follow.
From the RTÉ Archives
Ben Dunne on the supermarket war and price fixing 1989
Ben Dunne at the Moriarty Tribunal
Ben Dunne apologises to former Dunnes Stores worker Mary Manning
When Ben Dunne senior passed away in 1983 the running of the company was taken over by five of his children.
However, it was Ben Dunne junior who became a significant driving force over the next decade, growing it into one of the country's biggest retail chains.
Between 1983 and 1993, the businesses’ turnover expanded from a reported £300m to around £850m.
But just as his retail career was reaching the highest of heights, it all started to unravel for Ben Dunne.
Florida arrest
In 1992 he was arrested for possession of cocaine, while threatening to jump from the balcony of a room at the Grand Cypress Hotel in Florida, where he was in the company of a woman from an escort agency.
The high-profile incident grabbed headlines, leading to a grovelling public apology.
But for his siblings, who already had growing concerns about his behaviour inside the business, it was a bridge too far.
The incident kicked off a bitter boardroom battle among the Dunne family, who sought to push Ben Dunne out and take control of the Dunnes Stores business.
The stand-off eventually led to Ben Dunne’s departure from the company in 1993, with the businessman reportedly leaving the firm with an out of court settlement of £125m in return for his shareholding in the company.
But around the same time, his siblings commissioned a probe of the accounts within the Dunnes Stores business.
Tribunals
This subsequently led to it emerging that controversial payments had been made to a refrigeration business owned by the then Fine Gael and now independent TD Michael Lowry, which provided services to Dunnes Stores.
It was also revealed that Ben Dunne had been responsible for paying substantial amounts for the refurbishment of Mr Lowry’s home.
This all contributed to the McCracken Tribunal being set up to probe payments to politicians by Mr Dunne.
It found Mr Lowry had evaded tax, assisted by Mr Dunne, but there was no evidence of political favours granted in return for money.
It also emerged that during the late 80s and early 90s, Mr Dunne made payments totalling over £1m sterling to former taoiseach and friend, Charlie Haughey, to help him with his living expenses.
All the payments were made through Dunnes Stores.
But on one separate occasion in 1991, Mr Dunne called to Mr Haughey’s home in north Dublin and personally gave him three bank drafts totalling £210,000 sterling, to which Mr Haughey reportedly responded, "thanks, big fella."
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However, the Moriarty tribunal later concluded that Mr Dunne had actually been involved in making payments totalling £2m to Mr Haughey.
The tribunal also found it could not agree with the conclusion of the McCracken Tribunal that there was no wrongful use of his position by Mr Haughey in relation to money he received from Mr Dunne.
Ben Dunne claimed he had no recollection of making the additional payments to Mr Haughey.
The Moriarty tribunal also found Mr Lowry had sought to procure unwarranted rent increases that over a seven-year period would have improperly enriched Ben Dunne.
It found Mr Lowry sought to influence the outcome of an arbitration being conducted in 1995 in relation to the rent payable by Telecom Eireann for Marlborough House to a company owned and controlled by Mr Dunne.
The matter was "profoundly corrupt to a degree that was nothing short of breathtaking" the tribunal concluded, findings which Mr Dunne and Mr Lowry both rejected.
The tribunals also revealed much more about the personal struggles that Ben Dunne had faced, with the businessman acknowledging publicly that he had been a "broken and sick man" during earlier periods of his life and had contemplated suicide.
Dunnes Stores exit
Following his exit from Dunnes Stories, as well as being involved in property development, Ben Dunne set up and built a chain of around a dozen gyms, becoming a significant player in the fitness and leisure sector here.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic hit the business hard and he was forced to close half of the outlets permanently over the last couple of years, a move which returned the business to profit last year.
He also tried to start and build some other businesses, including an online sales website bendunnedirect.com and an art discount business.
Mr Dunne also built a sizeable personal art collection of his own and last year he and his wife put 39 paintings from it on the market.
While his flaws and the ensuing national controversies will not be forgotten, Ben Dunne will also likely be remembered as a successful businessman, a colourful, friendly character, not afraid to speak his mind or give an opinion.
His life, and those of others around him, went in a very particular direction as a consequence of that fateful night in the Florida hotel in 1992.
And as people remember him over the coming days and weeks, many will wonder if that had not happened, what might have been for "Big Ben"?
