Requiem for an Irish mensch

Kevin Leary, the parking mogul who died last week at 80, made a lot of money and gave a lot of it away, seeing in the poor and the homeless his own reflection.

Dr. Jim O’Connell, who has tended to the homeless for decades, was at the shrine in Lourdes when he met Kevin Leary.

Dr. Tom Durant, one of the great humanitarian doctors in the city, put the arm on O’Connell, insisting he take care of the sick who made the pilgrimage from Boston to France, hoping divine intervention would do what medical intervention could not.

Leary, a rich businessman, tagged along, and, as was his wont, mocked the pompous bishops who swanned around the place like kings.

Then Leary stopped making fun of the self-important and started tending to the most important, the sick and dying who were looking for a miracle.