Michael Smurfit

Smurfit, who was born in St Helens, England, was educated at Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare, Ireland. He left school aged 16 and joined his father's company, Jefferson Smurfit & Sons Ltd, in 1955. In 1967, he was appointed joint managing director and was made deputy chairman in 1969. He was appointed chairman and chief executive officer of the Jefferson Smurfit Group in 1977, a position he held until his retirement as CEO in November 2002.

During his tenure at the helm of the Jefferson Smurfit Group, Smurfit led the early expansion of the Group in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. He followed this with a series of acquisitions in the US, Latin America and Continental Europe, creating in the process Ireland's first international company and a global leader in paper-based packaging. As chairman, Smurfit oversaw the merger of the Smurfit Group with Kappa Packaging BV to form Smurfit Kappa, with the merged company employing 42,000 employees in 33 countries on 5 continents. The group had sales of €6 billion in 2009. His share of the merged company was 4.9%. He is also a director of Ballymore International, a property development and investment group, and has investments in other small companies.

He previously owned the K Club in County Kildare, which hosted the 2006 Ryder Cup,[2] which was sold for €70 million in November 2019.[3]

Smurfit is a member of many sporting and social clubs in Ireland, the United Kingdom, United States, Monaco and Spain. He owns a €53 million super yacht and the Smurfit Art Collection, worth over €50 million.

Smurfit also commissioned Anna Livia, a bronze monument formerly located on O'Connell Street in Dublin. It was affectionately known as the Floozie in the Jacuzzi.[4]

He has two daughters and four sons and lives in Monte Carlo. He is an uncle to Irish actress Victoria Smurfit. He has 12 grandchildren. His son Anthony P. J. Smurfit is based in Dublin, Ireland, and is the current CEO of Smurfit Kappa.

In 2005, Smurfit was appointed to be a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) in HM The Queen's Birthday Honours List 2005, published on Friday 10 June 2005. He is honorary Irish consul to Monaco and has been honoured by the governments of Colombia, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Venezuela. The postgraduate business school of University College Dublin, the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, is named after him as a result of his financial support. In 1996 he received the Cross of Merit from the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, for his support for Christians in the Holy Land.

• Michael Smurfit School of Business biography
• British Embassy press release