Radiator tycoon Martin Naughton, who with his family has donated €25 million to a new institute at Trinity College Dublin, made his name as one of Ireland's foremost industrialists.
He has also become one of the State’s most generous philanthropists. Extravagant giving is not down to “ego”, says the intensely private businessman. He says he gives because he wants to.
"I never psychoanalyse myself. I don't carry an ego around with me," he previously told The Irish Times. "When you're doing well and money's coming in from all kinds of investments, you're inclined to be generous with it."
Naughton's personal fortune is estimated to be more than €1 billion. Almost all of it was earned from Glen Dimplex, the heating and electrical goods giant he founded in 1973.
The son of a garda, Naughton was born in Dublin just before the outbreak of the second World War. He grew up in Louth and later trained as an engineer. At the height of the Troubles, he tried and failed to buy his then-wobbling Dundalk employer. Undaunted, he went out on his own, making radiators in Newry.
Not a tax exile
Within four years, his Glen Electric bought the much larger Dimplex, setting him on the road to riches long before Ireland was wealthy.
Glen Dimplex, whose brands include Morphy Richards, now has global sales above €1.5 billion a year. Naughton, who chose not to become a tax exile, retained control until 2016, when he stepped down as its president.
He is close to former Glen Dimplex executive Loclann Quinn (brother of former minister Ruairí), with whom he owns Dublin’s Merrion Hotel. They were also early investors in property around Dublin’s IFSC.
Naughton has donated generously to the arts through the Royal Irish Academy, the National Gallery of Ireland, and educational institutes on both sides of the Border. In 2016, France awarded him the Légion d'Honneur in recognition of his achievements.
