Irish business tycoon and rugby record breaker Tony O'Reilly dies at 88

Tony O'Reilly, May 17, 1996./Shawn Baldwin PN/CMC

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Tony O'Reilly, the Irish media tycoon and former H.J. Heinz Co boss who first rose to prominence as a record breaking British and Irish Lions rugby player, died on Saturday at the age of 88.

For decades one of Ireland's most celebrated entrepreneurs, O'Reilly built a media group spanning from the Pacific through India and South Africa to Ireland but eventually went bankrupt after it crumbled during the global financial crisis of 2008.