The Moran clan

During the American Civil War, Union soldier Lt. Charles H. Moran took part in a daring escape from a Confederate prison in Richmond, Virginia. He was one of 109 escapees who crawled through a rat-infested tunnel to make their getaway. Fifty-nine succeeded in reaching Union lines, 48 were recaptured, including Moran, and two drowned in the nearby James River. Moran later wrote, "No tongue can tell how the poor fellows passed among the squealing rats, enduring the sickening air, the deathly chill, the horrible interminable darkness."

Another member of the clan who made a great escape - from the porn industry - is Crissy Moran, the former Playboy and Hustler centerfold who embraced Christ and became a social worker.

On the other end of the community service scale, we have Father Moran, a Jesuit missionary from Chicago who went to India in 1919 and befriended Mahatma Gandhi. 

The name Moran is a derivative of the Irish word mór meaning big. Tom Moran, Irish Americamagazine's 2008 Irish-American of the Year, is big by name and big by nature. He looks like a line backer - the kind of guy you would want in your first line of defense. And for many people, especially in Africa, he is just that - the smiling, red-haired white guy who comes to visit and goes away leaving them better-off.

Tom, who has achieved great success as a businessman - he's chairman, president and CEO of the insurance giant Mutual of America - is also chairman of Concern Worldwide U.S., the Irish-born relief organization that operates in 30 of the poorest countries in the world.

In addition to Concern, Tom has contributed to many humanitarian and community causes, and has used his quiet style of diplomacy to promote peace in Northern Ireland. He serves on a number of boards, including Aer Lingus, the North American Advisory Board of the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business at University College Dublin (UCD), the Taoiseach's Economic Advisory Board, the American Cancer Society Foundation and the National Committee on American Foreign Policy.

Married to Joan, whose family, the Maloneys and Burkes have roots in counties Clare and Limerick, Tom was born on Staten Island, New York in 1952, to an Italian-Irish-American mother and an Irish-American father. He has a brother Jack and a sister Bess. 

He will tell you just as fast that it was Bill Flynn, the then chairman of Mutual of America, who introduced him to the notion that it was time for peace in Northern Ireland. Tom was on board in a heartbeat, mostly behind the scenes where he nudged, cajoled, and made friends on all sides - getting his point across with humor and persistence.

Tom first visited Ireland in 1970. Of the trip, he says: "I met a couple of guys at Doherty's Bar and Grill on Staten Island and they invited me over. I had a great time. It was an exciting time with good friends, but the truth of it is my real passion for Ireland came after being able to go there with Bill Flynn and Bill Barry and seeing the great relationships they had already developed."  

The following quotes say much about the high regard in which Tom Moran is held by his contemporaries. He himself shies away from the limelight. When he is the center of attention, he draws the focus to others - the life lessons he learned working alongside Benny the hot dog man at Nathan's, or from the guys in the garage he met driving a cab during his college years. In his spare time, he still likes to drive - one of his several motorbikes.

"Your contribution to peace in Northern Ireland has been exceptional. The affection and esteem in which you are held by political parties representing both traditions there, as well as the British and Irish governments, is a testament to your unstinting commitment and wise counsel over many years." - Former Prime Minister Tony Blair

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