As revealed on Hotpress.com recently, Cary had suffered a stroke recently while on a working trip to Spain. This was the second stroke to hit the former Radio Nova boss – and it proved to be fatal. Since the haemorrhage occurred he had been unable to move and as the time passed it became increasingly obvious that he was in a battle for survival.

"His partner Sybil Fennell had been doing a blog on chriscary.com and it was very moving reading it," Hot Press deputy editor Stuart Clark comments. "But in the end it seems there was nothing that could be done. It is very sad."

There is now nothing but a black screen at chriscary.com – a moving and eloquent statement in itself.

A man with a real love for the medium of radio, Chris Cary was widely recognised as the smartest of the many smart operators active during the days of pirate radio in Ireland. He fashioned the sound of Irish commercial radio with Radio Nova, making it the most successful pirate station in the country. While there were controversies along the way, including a stand-off with the NUJ, his influence was enormous and he is regarded with considerable affection by most people in the radio business.

When independent broadcasting was introduced in 1988, Chris made a bid for the Dublin license, but was rejected by the Independent Radio and Television Commission. It was a decision that he regarded as profoundly unjust and for which he never forgave the regulatory authorities in Ireland.

Chris came to Dublin in 2007 at the invitation of Hot Press, to appear at the Music Ireland event at the RDS. Even this return to Ireland was plunged into controversy, when a newspaper report focussed on the fact that he had been convicted of pirating the Sky signal in the UK. Hurt by the media obsession with just one aspect of his life and career, at first he pulled out of the scheduled panel on the future of radio. However, in a gesture of magnanimity, he relented – and made what was a highly informative and entertaining contribution to what turned out to be a superb debate on the theme that excited him most.

Hot Press extends its condolences to his partner Sybil, who has been a true and loyal friend to Chris since they began their courtship in the halcyon days of Radio Nova.