By Business & Finance 
The US Ambassador to Ireland, Dan Rooney is one of the founders of the American Ireland Funds and an NFL legend to boot.
Daniel Rooney was sworn in as US Ambassador to Ireland in July 2009 but one could argue that he has always held a similar position throughout his entire career such is his stature within the Irish-American community.
Born in Pittsburgh in 1932, the oldest of the late Art Rooney’s five sons, he is a 1950 graduate of North Catholic High School, where he quarterbacked the Varsity football team. He went on to graduate from Duquesne University in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting.
Ambassador Rooney’s family is originally from Newry in Co. Down, and he has been a regular visitor to Ireland for most of his life. As Ambassador he is joined in Ireland by his wife Patricia and is well-known as one of the founders of the American Ireland Funds, which since its inception has raised over $300 million towards promoting peace, culture, and charity across Ireland.
Previously, as chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers American football team, Ambassador Rooney continued the standards and tradition instilled into the Steelers’ organisation since his father, Arthur (Art) Rooney, founded the team back in 1933. By the time Art Rooney was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1964, he had begun to turn over much of the operation of the Steelers to his oldest son, Dan.
A decade later, after having worked in every area of the organisation since 1955, Dan Rooney was named president of the Steelers in 1975. Now in his 54th year in the organisation, he is one of the most active NFL owners and one of Pittsburgh’s most involved executives in civic affairs.
As his father before him, he assumed the title of chairman in 2003, handing over the reign of presidency to his eldest son, Arthur Rooney II.
Ambassador Rooney’s contribution to NFL operations was honoured in 2000 when he joined his father as an inductee in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It made them only the second father-son tandem to be enshrined in the prestigious list.
One of the legacies of Ambassador Rooney’s work within the NFL is the ‘Rooney Rule’, established in 2003, which requires NFL teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation opportunities. Rooney’s chairmanship of the league’s diversity committee, and a history within the Steelers’ franchise of employing African Americans in team leadership roles, led to the Rooney moniker being associated with the rule.
Drawing upon his vast experience in the football business, Rooney developed a philosophy and management style that emphasises open, practical and efficient management and has been commended for moulding a model professional sports franchise with a low-key approach and delegation of responsibilities to his well-informed staff.
In 1976, Ambassador Rooney founded The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, a prize which is awarded annually to an emerging Irish writer under-forty years of age. The prize was originally administered by Jim Sherwin, but since 2007, the prize has been administered in the Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing of the School of English in Trinity College Dublin. Notable past winners of the award include Booker Prize winner Anne Enright and Academy Award winner Neil Jordan.
Ambassador Rooney’s accessibility and honesty has allowed him to maintain an excellent relationship with the American media, skills which he has continued to use in his work within the political arena.
Ambassador Rooney supported US President Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania and also financially contributed to the Democratic Party in 2008.
He stated in an interview last year that, following his appointment as US Ambassador to Ireland, he told President Obama that he must visit Ireland during his presidency.
The highly successful visit last year served as an important indicator of the continued strength of the Irish-American lobby in the US, and few are as aware of the importance of this relationship than Ambassador Rooney.
