End of an era: death of bookmaker and boxing promoter legend Barney Eastwood
Best known for his work with world champion Barry McGuigan
Last updated 10th Mar 2020
One of Northern Ireland's best known Businessmen and sporting figures Barney Eastwood has died at the age of 87.
The Boxing promoter and bookmaker from Holywood County Down died on Monday at the Ulster Hospital after a period of illness.
Eastwood known to family and friends as ‘BJ’ was best known for his work as a boxing promoter and manager, particularly his association with world champion fighter Barry McGuigan.
He also made a name for himself in the bookmaking business by building up a large chain of shops across Northern Ireland.
One of his most fruitful business endeavours was in 2008 when he sold 54 of his shops to the gambling company Ladbrokes in a deal worth £135 million.
BJ's passing has brought great sadness to the family as well as the whole community in Holywood where he was a very visible resident for the past 50 years,'' he said.
"All who knew him will miss his remarkable charm.''
The family has appealed for privacy.
Eastwood was born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, on March 26 in 1932 to John Charles Eastwood and Mary Gertrude Campbell.
He went to school at St Patrick's College in Armagh until he was 15.
In his teenage years Eastwood was said to be a talented gaelic footballer and won an All-Ireland medal at minor level with Tyrone in 1948 - something his family said he considered his most cherished achievement.
He met his wife, Frances, while working at his brother's shoe shop in Cookstown, where she was employed as a secretary.
They married, aged 19, and moved to Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, where he bought a public house with his inheritance from his late mother.
Although he started out as a publican, and worked as an undertaker, he soon turned to the bookmaking trade, opening his first betting shop in the 1950s.
His passion for boxing was ignited after watching organised fights at the US Army Air Force base near Ardboe, Co Tyrone, during the Second World War.
He promoted many boxing shows in the 1960s and, after a break from the sport, returned to the ring in the 1980s as McGuigan's manager.
His association with McGuigan helped make him a household name across the country and beyond.
McGuigan's most famous victory - over WBA world featherweight champion Eusebio Pedroza at Loftus Road in London in June 1985 - was watched by a domestic UK TV audience of more than 19 million.
The men's friendship ended on a low amid a high-profile legal battle following McGuigan's world title defeat to Steve Cruz in Las Vegas in 1986, which he won in 1992.
As well as McGuigan, he managed four other world champion boxers - Dave Boy'' McAuley, Paul Hodkinson, Crisanto Espana and Victor Cordoba.
Eastwood is survived by wife Frances, sons Brian, Peter, Adrian, Stephen and Fearghal, daughter Fiona, 23 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren, and his sister Margaret.
His family said the Eastwood home will remain private ahead of the funeral later in the week at St Colmcille's Parish Church, Holywood.