A book on Tony Ryan

http://www.nationalist.ie/news/business/new-book-on-ryanair-founder-tony-ryan-one-of-tipperary-s-famous-sons-1-5468451

Extract :

Tony Ryan: Ireland’s Aviator is the story of a single-minded young man from Tipperary who went on to be one of Ireland’s greatest entrepreneurs. The book was launched in Dublin at the Lir Theatre  with the author Richard Aldous present as well as members of the Ryan family and well-known names from Ireland’s aviation industry, including Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary.

The biography traces the emergence of Ryan’s entrepreneurial spirit, from his first job as a traffic assistant for Aer Lingus at Shannon airport, to the highs and lows of a career that saw him build two businesses that transformed international aviation and accumulate a vast personal fortune.
Following his death in October 2007, Ryan was lauded for his immense contribution to the Irish economy but Ryan came close to losing everything in 1992 when GPA, his airline leasing company, famously imploded. Ryanair, the small airline he set up in the 1980s, provided an escape route. He put his assistant Michael O’Leary in charge and the rest is history.

Richard Aldous : Tony Ryan, Ireland's aviator - Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 2013.

An extract (page 230 et seq) :

Just after the flotation (of Ryanair, in May 1997), Tony Ryan wrote to the Ryanair chairman, David Bonderman (...). He was particularly concerned about the fact that passengers were not being given enough respect.
"Currently, we are treating our customers poorly", Tony complained to Bonderman and O'Leary. "Fine in agood market but very dangerous as our competition strenghtens. more importantly, a positive change of attitude to our passengers does not necessarily cost money. We are playing Russian roulette at times with our cavalier attitude with our image". Then , in an attack on O'Leary, he  charged that the airline needed a public face, one able to "create a less aggressive and more caring image". It was the start of a rift with O'Leary (...)
The sense of frustration that thr Ryanas felt about O'Leary's "aggressive" strategy for Ryanair was captured in a memorandum by Declan Ryan in 1988. (...) He pointed to the bad press that Ryanair had been getting on Customer service. (...) It was "indicative of how many people feel about Ryanair ... being tough, uncompromising and unsympathetic, which is not that far from reality".
(...)
As is so often the case, Tony complained, Michael said yes and then did his own thing.

Well, it seems that, fifteen years later, Michael is eventually agreeing and going to work on it !