Reporting by Laura Slattery
Born in Dublin in 1936, he set up Quinn’s Supermarket in Dundalk in 1960 at the age of just 23, changing the name to Superquinn in the early 1970s. By 1976, the Sutton, Dublin-headquartered chain had expanded to seven outlets.
It became one of Ireland’s biggest grocery chains, employing as many as 5,000 people at one point, and was credited with advancing standards of customer service for Irish shoppers.
The business was sold to a consortium of investors in 2005 for €450 million and was subsequently bought out of receivership by Musgrave Group, which rebranded the stores under the Supervalu name.
Mr Quinn was elected to the Senate on the National University of Ireland panel in 1993 and served as a senator until 2016, when he decided not to run again.
Other public roles included a period in the 1980s as chairman of An Post.
