Longtime horseman Andre Lynch died Tuesday morning after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 52.
The news was announced on social media Tuesday morning by Paramount Sales's Lesley Campion, who created a GoFundMe for Lynch in February to support his palliative care and to create a fund for his two young daughters, Emma, 8, and Catherine, 4.
Lynch began his career in his native Ireland with Pat Doyle at Holycross, worked for David Magnier at Grange Stud, and finished his diploma at the Irish National Stud. He worked for Pat O' Kelly at Kilcarn Stud, before moving to the U.S., where he spent 21 years with Coolmore. He later managed Doug and Felicia Branham's Hurricane Hills Farm in 2017, where he worked until his illness, diagnosed last November, prevented it.
In a statement to the TDN, Campion said: “In the early hours of March 11, in the University of Kentucky Hospice, Andre Lynch passed away peacefully, safe in the love and comfort of his adoring mother Eileen. Andre has left a wonderful legacy of two beautiful daughters in Emma and Catherine. They will come to know of the enormous and well-earned respect and love that his many friends had for Andre's kindness, decency, hard work and horsemanship. His mark on the Thoroughbred industry across America will live on. He will be dearly missed by his sister Raissa, his brother Jonathan, sister-in-law Anne and their children Eoin, Edel, and Louise. He will be forever remembered by his aunt Noreen and his childhood mentor, his uncle Bill Maher and family as well as the Hoft family.”
“I have known Andre since he arrived on Lexington Blue Grass Day in 1995,” Lynch's longtime friend Ken Donworth. “We've been great friends ever since. I was lucky to work with him at Creekview Farm in Paris, where Dermot [Ryan] was the manager before he moved to Coolmore's Ashford Stud. Andre and I were barn foremen, and it was a great experience. We managed some great mares and learned a lot about each other. We also explored the social scene in Paris at a young age, which was a tremendous experience. Andre went on to work at Ashford Stud with Dermot in the office, and I went a different direction from the horse business. We have remained friends every since. He was the best man in my wedding and he is the godfather of my son Patrick, and he was very good to him over the years.”
Donworth, who was active in the Gofundme page which raised over $425,000 for his daughters, said Lynch would have done the same for others.
“Andre was a very generous guy. He would give you the shirt off his back. He would take care of others before he would take care of himself. I cannot say enough good words about him; I know what happened over the last three months. It has been a fantastic reach out from everybody who has known Andre over the years, and it helped him get through the last couple of months. He passed comfortably and not in any pain, with a very peaceful mind that the girls would be taken care of with the fundraiser. It's a true testament to the horse business and community that everyone helped out.”
Services will be held at 3:15 p.m. Friday, March 14 at the Lexington Cemetery at 833 W Main Street in Lexington, Kentucky, and a celebration of life will follow at the Thoroughbred Club of America, 3555 Rice Road, Lexington, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.
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