MOURNERS lined streets in west Belfast yesterday to say goodbye to an "unbelievable character" who was one of four pensioners to die from coronavirus in a care home last week.
Alec Fitzpatrick (87) passed away in Our Lady's Nursing Home in Beechmount on Easter Saturday, just 48 hours after being discharged from the Mater Hospital's A&E department where he was treated for a high temperature and breathlessness.
A fifth resident with suspected Covid-19 also died at the facility.
Known for his flamboyant style and sharp wit - his son Mark said he thought he was "the missing member of the Rat Pack"- Mr Fitzpatrick managed nightclubs in New York in the 1950s before returning home to become a major figure in sporting circles through his coaching of hundreds of young people in soccer and GAA at the height of the Troubles.
Dean Martin's classic 'Little Ole Wine Drinker, Me' was played on a loudspeaker outside the family home yesterday afternoon as the great-grandfather's coffin remained in a hearse for a short service while neighbours came out of their homes - and clapped to pay their respects.
Brendan Crossan: Handballer Alec Fitzpatrick will always be remembered as a local legend of the road (premium)
A private burial took place due to strict restrictions around funerals during the pandemic.
Photographs of the father-of-three and his beloved late wife Gertie - the couple married in Toronto on New Year's Eve in 1956 and were together for over sixty years - were laid outside the house along with prized sporting trophies.
While a prolific soccer player himself - he was scouted for Manchester United - the "charismatic" carpenter and black taxi driver took up handball at the age of 60 and went on to win championship games across the north over the next decade.
Originally from Varna Street in the lower Falls area of the city, the west Belfast man was diagnosed with dementia seven years ago but according to his grandson Lee, was still singing his favourite Dean Martin songs in Our Lady's care home - where his family said the care was "fabulous" - up until three months ago.
The pair were "best friends" and Mr Fitzpatrick once even dyed his hair peroxide blond to match his grandson's when he was a fan of the bleached headed American rapper Eminem.
"He was an unbelievable character. It sounds very biased because he was my granda. He was never in bad form, if he was there he was the life and soul of any situation. If anyone who was close to him, he was a very, very loving person," Lee Fitzpatrick told The Irish News.
"I've been getting messages from guys I don’t even know and they said how much of an impact Alec made on their lives. During the 1980s he was coaching in Beechmount Leisure Centre and it would have been packed to the rafters. He was training kids that were going off the rails but would have got them into the handball and involved in teams.
"He always 'bigged' people up if you were feeling low or down. He would have gone above and beyond for anyone. The craic, the stories you wouldn't believe; he should have written a book."
The Covid-related deaths at Our Lady's home were reported in The Irish News on Monday and led to increased pressure on government to disclose the number of people losing their lives to the virus in residential settings - amid concerns that 'clusters' were not being identified to prevent the spread of the disease as is happening in the Republic.
Today, figures will be released for the first time on the elderly and vulnerable in care homes in Northern Ireland who have died due to coronavirus.
However, due to the limited number of testing in the community, Stormont sources says that the figure will still not reflect the true scale of the death toll.
Up until now, officials have only released data on hospital deaths linked to virus, with a total of 158 now confirmed.
In the Republic, where testing is on a much greater scale and community deaths are included in Covid fatalities, more than half of its deaths have been recorded as care home residents.
Mr Fitzpatrick's grandson welcomed the decision to include the death of his grandfather and other care residents in the north's figures, saying it made the system more transparent and showed the true toll of the virus, which he described as a "horrible, horrible disease".
"It's good to see these statistics actually spoken about because at the end of the day the people who are dying of Covid-19 have families and they need to grieve, and it is important they are remembered," he said.
"Alec Fitzpatrick wasn't just a statistic - he was an unbelievable person."
Mr Fitzpatrick is survived by his children, Johnnie, Mark and Rose, nine grand-children and five great grandchildren.
