Nobody who ever met Jack Mitchell came away with their ideas about themselves, life and humanity unaltered. He was one of life's natural teachers and could brilliantly communicate the most profound ideas almost as an aside in the course of a conversation.
Snatches of poetry and song peppered his conversation as liberally as punctuation and his enthusiasm for life and love of language were highly infectious.
He had a deep disdain for pomposity and pretentiousness and could deflate the most bloated ego, usually with a superbly-timed simple-but-deadly question, and always with affectionate humour.
He spent only the last 6 years of his life in Galway yet such was his influence that on the evening held to mark what would have been his 75th birthday and the tenth anniversary of his death, dozens of people who called him friend turned up to share memories and pay tribute to the contribution he had made to the people of the city in the fields of literature, arts and politics.
This website is dedicated to his memory and to provide a small online collection of some of his work. It was put together by his friend Dick Gaughan with Renate Mitchell, and Jack's daughter and son-in-law, Jenny and Niall Farrell.
"Where e'er I go your memory
will help me walk in liberty
and not give in to fear." -- Emer Cloherty