Dairy business boss Dean Wright ‘an inspiration to many’

Dean Wright was the director of the dairy firm Ballylisk, which sells milk, cream, and soft cheeses called Single Rose and Triple Rose to supermarkets across NI.

Mr Wright was aged 48, had two daughters, and his sudden death at his home near Portadown on Saturday is not being treated as suspicious.

Rev Elizabeth Cairns of Mullavilly Anglican parish in Co Armagh said “the church and the wider community are absolutely devastated” by the news.

The parish posted a message online saying Dean had still been a “young man”.

It added: “A promise about comfort, when you are walking through the valley: ‘Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me’ [Psalm 23, NIV]...

“The community won’t be able to physically rally round the family as they traditionally would’ve done in normal times.

“For those going through deep grief, sadness, despair, unbelief and even the anger of losing someone, know that God loves you and cares for you and will walk with you through it, comforting you in the midst of your tears.”

The business is based between Tandragee and Portadown, and the 400-plus-acre farm which Dean ran had been in the family since the 1820s.

Last April he had talked to Farming Life about his “recognised and successful brand”.

He spoke of rekindling the practice of door-to-door milk deliveries, and of making the firm “plastic free”.

Upper Bann MLA Doug Beattie described him as “a passionate and articulate advocate for his business”, noting he had taken part in a meeting hosted by the UUP little over a week earlier where Brexit and the NI Protocol were the subject of discussion.

UUP councillor Kyle Savage – deputy lord mayor of the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon district – said Dean had been “an inspiration to many people” in the industry.

He recalled an occasion where he had donated £2,000-worth of cheese to the local ‘Via Wings’ foodbank.

Such generosity was “the measure of the man,” he said.