Aleadingpharmacist wholovedSligoandlife
Anthony Toher, more affectionately known to all as Tony, was above all a dedicated and determined Sligonian.
He had a lifelong enthusiasm across many diverse areas of interest and activity and brought a unique vibrancy to all his commitments.
Tony was born in 1920 in Rosses Point when his mother was on holidays.
Having been “plucked untimely from his mother’s womb” as she went into unexpected sudden labour, Tony continued to be determined, ambitious and had a “let’s get on with it” attitude for the rest of his life.
Tony was initially educated privately prior to attending Summerhill College. He then spent two years at Clongowes Wood College in Co. Kildare. Unfortunately, he fell ill and his family brought him back home for healing.
He continued with private tuition and during this period he dedicated his recovery to celebrating active life for the rest of his days.
Tony studied in UCD and then trained as a Pharmacist in London. On returning to Sligo in the late 1940s he established a business as a retail Pharmacist in O’Connell Street, Sligo.
He brought to Tohers the Chemists all the latest thinking; displaying all non- dispensing items on open accessible shelving, establishing an exclusive perfumery counter, and then upstairs a same- day photo development service which hired out cameras for family events … all unheard of in the rural conservative Ireland of the time.
He most enjoyed the business management of Tohers the Chemists where he introduced rigid stock control, planned purchasing and computerised the operation long before others adopted modern technology.
Tony retired from retailing in 1988 and the business remains prominent under its original name to this day in O’Connell Street.
Much to the chagrin of his fellow Directors in the Gaiety Cinema, Tony was a founder member of Sligo Film Society in 1942.
Being a keen photographer, he also founded the Sligo Photography Club in 1951. He exhibited a selection of photographs in Sligo which he titled “The Yeats Country”.
This term was then adopted by Dr. T. R. Henn of St. Catharine’s College Cambridge ( a native of Sligo who was advisor of Sligo’s first Yeats International Summer School) and has since become the tourism and international byword for Sligo.
In addition, Tony was an active member of the Yeats Society and President of the Sligo Field Club, of which he was later to be made an Honorary Life Member.
Tony supported the late Nora Niland, Sligo County Librarian as she assembled, for the town and county, what is now the largest public collection of Jack Butler Yeats paintings outside of the National Gallery, Dublin.
Through his friendship with James White, Administrator of the Havery Trust, Tony secured five paintings for Sligo Library.
These then formed the nucleus of the now Niland Gallery and proved to be an irresistible stimulus for Nora Niland to continue to build the collection and this she did with the support of the business people of Sligo.
Tony had no fear of speed and revelled in fast cars and motorcycles. With the help of his friend Billy Tamplin, in the early 1950s, he competed on his Norton 500cc in the annual Isle of Man Grand Prix.
He was a member of the North West Motorcycle Club and the Sligo Motor Club and he participated in many prestigious races both in Northern and Southern Ireland.
Tony’s authoritative book ‘ Exploring Sligo and North Leitrim Walks, The Yeats Country’ was published in 1984 with the expressed determination “how do I get up such and such a mountain and safely down again”.
It was the fruit of nearly sixty years of rambling the hills of Sligo and it remains the definitive guide.
He is remembered for abseiling down the harsh face of Ben Bulben, probably the first and perhaps the last person to do so.
He was a noted authority on the flora of Western Ireland, having come first in Ireland in his Botany examination for Pharmacy.
Tony’s work for the preservation of the North Sligo Armada sites at Streedagh Beach was recognised in 1997 when he was made an honorary associate member of Las Associaciones de la Armada Invencible, La Coruna, Spain by its President, Mr. Barry Mc Ginley Jones. In 2016, he was again honoured to receive a special award from the Spanish Government at a Gala Reception in Sligo City Hall.
Tony introduced water skiing to Lough Gill - making his own timber skis and was a founding member of the Sligo Water Ski Club. He was an active sailor all his days, being a very early and active member of Sligo Yacht Club and a member of the Irish Cruising Club.
He made many off- shore trips from Ireland and also sailed in the Mediterranean where the Greek Islands appealed to his classical tastes, his boats being named “EOS” ( Dawn) and “ARETE” ( Greek: - The man or woman of Arete is a person of the highest effectiveness; they use all their faculties— strength, bravery and wit— to achieve real results).
Amongst this myriad of changing interests, Tony Toher’s involvement in the Sligo Chamber of Commerce was a lifelong passion.
Tony was President of Sligo Chamber of Commerce in 1979/ 80 and he was deeply honoured to be awarded lifetime membership of the Chamber in October, 2000.
This honour has only been bestowed on two members of the Chamber, himself and Ray MacSharry. Tony was also involved in the Sligo Tourist Development Association which remains vital to this day and which continues to give major support to many of the tourism activities in County Sligo.
Tony had a rich and deep spiritual life sustaining his commercial acumen. He was, for many years, an ardent Buddhist, practicing TM and other forms of mindfulness on a daily basis. In his later years, he returned to the Roman Catholicism of his youth.
Tony was vibrant, ever active and ever young. With his departure, his mould, an amalgam of fine pharmaceutical clay and steel forged in the Sligo Foundry, is broken. Truly, Sligo and indeed Ireland will not see his like again.
Tony Toher was predeceased by his only sibling Hilda ( Keaveney). He is survived by his beloved wife Ray ( Rachael), his niece Tracy Elston ( UK), his step- daughters Denise Murphy ( Drogheda), Bernie Mooney ( Dublin), Alison O’Neill ( Celbridge), their children and grandchildren.
“From quiet homes and first beginning, Out to the undiscovered ends, There is nothing worth the wear of winning But the laughter and the love of friends” - Hilaire Belloc ( 1870- 1953)