Bernard Palmer RIP

Tim Harding

In the last few hours the ICU website(s) have announced the death of Bernard Palmer of Dun Laoghaire Chess Club whom many readers of this forum doubtless knew and played against.

While we didn't always see eye to eye, he was one of the first Irish players to welcome me to Dublin chess circles when I first came here in 1976 and we had a few interesting games over the years.

My commiserations to his family and friends. I don't know what was the immediate cause of his death but he appeared not to be in great health at the Irish Championships recently where he played below his usual strength.

macelligott

Tim, I don't see any funeral arrangements on www.rip.ie nor The Irish Independent.

reunion

macelligott wrote: »

Tim, I don't see any funeral arrangements on www.rip.ie nor The Irish Independent.

I think it's shocking when people don't even trust the ICU website anymore (particularly about a death notice). It says something about the credibility of the poster on the ICU site...

I note no funeral arrangements posted on the Irish Chess Facebook page or the ICU website - a helpful detail for people who want to give their condolences (some notices cost money so that would explain their lack of notice in other mediums).

Don't get me wrong, posts on the ICU site have a tendency to change in a few days, however for a death notice, I think it should be easy to prove the guy is still alive and this would be a bit extreme (even for people who issue death threats).

The blog has the tag Bernard Palmer passing - Can that get changed to obituary (or even added as a tag)? Or does every death notice have their own personal tag of *full name* passing? Seems rather silly as most death notices are:
*name* passed away. Great chess player in X club. Condolences with the family. funeral details or for funeral details contact X club or person Y.

macelligott

@Reunion, it was not my intention to question the reliability of the ICU post. Rather, I was hoping someone would come back with details of funeral arrangements as they were surprisingly absent from rip.ie & independent.ie

reunion

macelligott wrote: »

@Reunion, it was not my intention to question the reliability of the ICU post. Rather, I was hoping someone would come back with details of funeral arrangements as they were surprisingly absent from rip.ie & independent.ie

Ah ok. Judging from your post on the Irish Chess group and here, it seemed to indicate that you were questioning the ICU post.


I don't know any of the arrangements however if you contact the ICU executive or the Dun Laoghaire club, they should know.

sinbad68

reunion wrote: »

I think it's shocking when people don't even trust the ICU website anymore (particularly about a death notice). It says something about the credibility of the poster on the ICU site.

The ONLY shocking thing is that, from a death, you found the opportunity to attack the ICU site & executive. Did you see The words " rest in peace " in this thread's headline ?.

reunion

sinbad68 wrote: »

The ONLY shocking thing is that, from a death, you found the opportunity to attack the ICU site & executive. Did you see The words " rest in peace " in this thread's headline ?.

If you read my posts, I thought Macelligott didn't believe the news posting (judging from his facebook post and his post here). Kind of hard to get the exact meaning from a block of text on a screen - it can be read a bunch of different ways!

My post offers a method for people to find out arrangements (something the ICU post is lacking and something Macelligott was looking for). The ICU doesn't report deaths but if it's a thing it's going to be doing - it should do so properly. Obituary is a better tag and a standard notice is in order.

sinbad68

reunion wrote: »

My post offers a method for people to find out arrangements (something the ICU post is lacking and something Macelligott was looking for). The ICU doesn't report deaths but if it's a thing it's going to be doing - it should do so properly. Obituary is a better tag and a standard notice is in order.

I am sure macelligott knew that without needing to be told, anyway he seems to have found the reason behind the delay, Bernard plamer was only 57 and either died suddenly or after a very short illness and the coroner wants to find the cause of death and performing an autopsy before handing the body to the family .

It was nice of ICU to pay tribute to a chess player on their website , I don't think it's their job to send a detective to investigate a death.

Macelligott posted his finding on another blog and not here where he asked the question, as he was annoyed that his simple question was used to attack ICU.

cdeb

sinbad68 wrote: »

Macelligott posted his finding on another blog and not here where he asked the question, as he was annoyed that his simple question was used to attack ICU.

In fairness, while that may be the case, I don't see how you can conclusively state it. The same poster had previously posted on that thread and was replying to the same question there.

However, I agree the topic shouldn't be used to beat the ICU with either.

I'll leave this thread open in case any arrangements, etc, are announced, but I think we should just stick to the matter at hand rather than have it drag off on a tangent.

reunion

sinbad68 wrote: »

It was nice of ICU to pay tribute to a chess player on their website , I don't think it's their job to send a detective to investigate a death.

A death notice should give some information about people giving condolences to friends/family. You can play detective if you want, but the ICU should have some information about how to pay respect. That notice wasn't a tribute - it was a notice. This is a tribute.

Macelligott posted "I doubt the validity of this post" in relation to the notice on a different website - and then states there are no death notices here.... it's not unreasonable to think he doesn't believe the death notice.

cdeb wrote: »

However, I agree the topic shouldn't be used to beat the ICU with either.

Unfortunately the only time you can discuss death notices is when someone dies. This is the first death notice the ICU has reported (I think in the last 7 years). While my opinion of this man was low, he was a long term ICU member who deserves at least a proper post about the death notice, if not a small tribute - to both ICU members and ex-ICU members, who aren't in Dublin or don't know the family, to give condolences. It would be courteous to the family, the last thing the family wants are a bunch of people ringing them contacting them asking about funeral arrangements and details. The post should have "funeral details to follow when available" or "funeral details are XXX" or "contact YYY for further information".

cdeb wrote: »

I'll leave this thread open in case any arrangements, etc, are announced, but I think we should just stick to the matter at hand rather than have it drag off on a tangent.

Well I'll stop posting then since I believe I'm the biggest culprit here. I think I've made myself clear that the notice on the ICU site should be better. I'll end my post with how I would have written the notice.

"The ICU regret to announce the death of it's member Bernard Palmer of the Dunlaoghaire Chess Club. Bernard was an active member of the ICU having played chess for more than 15 years. He served on the ICU committee in 2008-09 as the Public Relations Officer and more recently in 2013-14 as the membership officer. Bernard achieved his highest rating of 2048 in August 2014 and finished 10th in the Irish Championships last month (where he achieved a fantastic win against Paul O'Neill). He was a strong chess player who will be sadly missed by the ICU and it's members. The ICU would like to express it's deepest condolences to his friends and family. Funeral details will be posted here when we know them. The ICU are creating a list of condolences from players and stories about Bernard to give to the family. Please email XXX officer at XXX@icu.ie with the subject Bernard Palmer RIP and we will pass your message on to his family.

May he rest in peace."

sinbad68

reunion, To me, The fact that the statement comes from icu, an organisation Bernard belonged to and not a 3rd paid party announcing it, also the statement gives respect and condolences to family & friends will make it a tribute rather than a death notice, giving a mini biography is not essential in a tribute, even a single sentence can be regarded as a tribute.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/tribute

Anyway,I won't continue this argument,

Mod edit - don't post info which could identify another poster, however obscure or random.

cdeb

Thread closed as per my previous post. This isn't the place for a rant on the ICU or a rant on rants on the ICU.

If anyone has info they want posted in the thread (e.g. funeral arrangements), they can PM me and I'll re-open to post.

cdeb

Death notice on rip.ie

Funeral arrangements to be announced later.

cdeb

Have been advised funeral arrangements are cremation in Glasnevin Monday 31st Aug 11.30am.

DLCC will accept donations to defray the cost of grave and urn.