Brendan O?Shea

Tribute to Br. Brendan – Iain Grieve, Marist “Old Boy”, and now a senior lawyer

The Provincial Superior of the Province of Southern Africa, Brother Norbert Mwila, and the Community of Observatory in Johannesburg, announce the sad news of the death of Brother Brendan O’Shea (Jeremiah Emmanuel O’Shea) to all the communities of the Province, relatives and friends, as well as to all the Communities of the Institute of the Marist Brothers. Brother Brendan was in his 81st year of life and in his 62nd year of religious profession.

In March 2016, Brother Brendan showed clear symptoms of increasing dementia, and he was brought from Durban where he had spent the majority of his life to Johannesburg. In the course of the following months, his ailment became increasingly noticeable, until eventually he had to be admitted to a care home.

Brendan had been admitted to Nazareth House barely 3 km from the Observatory community early in May, but within a couple of weeks he had stopped eating or drinking and had to be hospitalised.

An operation to remove a blood clot in the brain was not as effective in restoring his ability to swallow as had been hoped: he still had to be fed artificially. From the intensive care unit he was moved eventually to the high care unit, where he passed away peacefully at 19h15 on Saturday 24 June 2017.

Brendan was born in County Kerry, Ireland on 15 December 1936 – we marked his 80th birthday shortly before Christmas – and came to South Africa shortly after his first profession in 1955.