Irish UN worker found dead in Haiti

The body of Irish United Nations worker Andrew Grene has been discovered in the rubble of the UN building destroyed by the 7.0 earthquake that rocked Port-au-Prince two weeks ago. He was 44.

Grene was born in Chicago but he split time between living on a small farm in County Cavan and the U.S. as a child. He attended the University of Chicago and Trinity College Dublin before moving on to the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

Grene, who held dual US and Irish citizenship, was as a speechwriter for former UN secretary general Boutros Boutros Ghali and then progressed into peacekeeping strategy which landed him in danger zones such as East Timor, Central African Republic, Ethiopia and Eritrea and then Haiti. Grene was working as a special assistant to the head of the UN mission in Haiti, Hedi Annabi, who was also killed in the disaster.

His twin brother, Gregory, a founding member of Celtic rock band The Prodigals, described his brother as an “extraordinary, funny, brilliant, charming and deeply kind man” and said that his body will be flown back to Ireland to be buried alongside his father in Belturbet, Co. Cavan.

“I am struggling to get through this,” he wrote in an online post. “The only consolation for the insane bitterness of the loss is the extraordinary beauty and love with which he endowed my life, as he did every one of his family, every day.

“While I wrote songs, he created peace. I think there is no question which is the nobler, greater mission. He worked for that cause in some of the most dangerously precarious situations, in the Central African Republic, Ethiopia and Eritrea. .In his final posting he worked passionately, lovingly, with unwavering courage and with an unshakeable belief in the country and the people of Haiti.”

Grene is survived by his wife Jennifer, and three children, Patrick, Alex and Rosamund. He is among the 70 UN workers who have been confirmed dead at time of going to press. 146 workers are still unaccounted for.