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Home arrow News arrow Local News arrow Merv Griffin’s legacy will continue at St Clerans, says Manager
Merv Griffin’s legacy will continue at St Clerans, says Manager E-mail
Written by Avril Horan   
Wednesday, 15 August 2007
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Merv Griffin’s legacy will continue at St Clerans, says Manager
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It’s the “end of an era” but the death of Merv Griffin will not affect the success of St Clerans Manor House in Craughwell, a place that was very close to its owner’s heart. Hotel General Manager Ken Bergin told the Galway Independent this week that management were determined to carry on Mr Griffin’s legacy.

“We have had a communication from Head Office in the States and they have made it very clear that Merv Griffin’s good work and legacy at St Clerans will continue and flourish after his death. We will carry on that legacy,” said Mr Bergin.

Mr Griffin, the founder and chairman of The Griffin Group of companies, died on Sunday, shortly after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. He turned 82 on 6 July. The aggressive progression of the disease to other organs was “unexpected and immediate”, according to his doctors at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles.

From his beginning as a radio singer, Griffin became a film actor, TV talk-show host and creator of a game-show empire that landed him on the Forbes' list of the richest Americans. He sold the rights to ‘Jeopardy’ and ‘Wheel of Fortune’ to Columbia Pictures Television for $250 million. He went into property, purchasing the Beverly Hilton Hotel from Barron Hilton and Resorts International, which operated hotels and casinos across America.

But he “fell in love” with St Clerans in Craughwell and fulfilled what he described as a lifelong dream to restore the Manor to its former splendour. It gave him a permanent link to Ireland, formalising his native roots, as his mother was Irish. Once owned by actor and director John Huston, Merv Griffin said: “Like John Huston, I fell in love with this Georgian beauty at first sight. Unlike Mr Huston who acquired it 50 years ago, I had to wait several decades to make St Clerans my home.”

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