Ivan Moffitt was known far and wide and the news of his passing came to all who had the pleasure of knowing him with total disbelief.

Born in December 1964 in his beloved townland of Thornhill, outside Blacklion in Co Cavan, Ivan loved all things agricultural from an early age. As a teenager he spread lime for hire, kept turkeys, ducks and started dealing in sheep. But without a doubt, the jewel in the crown was when, in 1996, he and his brother Wilfred, together with Gerard Campbell, bought Manorhamilton Livestock Mart. At the time, the mart was only selling cattle and Ivan was the instigator of new sheep sales. Manorhamilton later developed into, and remains, one of the mainstays for sheep sales in the northwest of Ireland. Last bank holiday Monday, it was great to see his son Harry selling, his daughter Ava clerking and his wife Sarah all in the rostrum together. Is there another mart in Ireland where you would see a real example of a family run business? It was heartwarming and Ivan, keeping an eye from the floor, you could see how proud he was.

He had a very calm demeanour about him and was not one to get excited, and when faced with some kind of a crisis his reply would be, “don’t worry about it, it will be alright, give it time”. And mostly he was right.

A few years ago he surprised us all by purchasing a pub in the village of Glenfarne close to the Cavan-Leitrim border.

Over the last few days, the stories of Ivan’s generosity flowed and the amount of people he helped out, sometimes at a great cost to himself, are too numerous to count. Whether it be in the mart, the pub or a chat on the side of the road, helping people was second nature to him. He was a great friend in many ways to many people, and he never looked for thanks and never spoke of anyone’s business good bad or indifferent. He was the heart of the mart, the heart of Faley Mac’s and indeed the heart of his home. He will be so sadly missed by so many, but most of all by his wife Sarah, daughters Alanna and Ava, sons Harry and Jack. Rest in peace old friend, until we all meet again.