The former League of Ireland player managed the Ireland women's football team before building a career in the tech industry and then heading up the FAI.
The Dubliner started with Home Farm and lined up for a number of other League of Ireland clubs. He moved into management when he was appointed boss of the senior international team in 1986, a position he held until 1991, when he was succeeded by Linda Gorman.
He then made a name for himself in the business world and worked at Baltimore Technologies from 1996. His work in that area led him to return to the FAI when he was hired as CEO in May 2003.
Rooney was the first to take up the role of CEO of the FAI, replacing the position of general secretary previously held by Brendan Menton, as one of the key recommendations of the post-Saipan Genesis report.
He agreed a three-year contract with the FAI, saying on his appointment that he would “provide leadership for the FAI and the football community across the country”.
Rooney made a number of changes to the association, adopting a new logo and a change in name, from FAI to FA Ireland, and at a difficult time for the national team, Rooney was seen as a pillar of manager Brian Kerr. But Rooney disappeared within 18 months after a series of internal rows.
Dublin Mayor Carmencita Hederman meets Ireland captain Marian Leahy and manager Fran Rooney before the UEFA Championship match against Sweden at Dalymount Park in May 1988. Photo: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
At a meeting just before his departure, only three members of the FAI's 60-strong board backed Rooney, who left in November 2004 and was replaced by John Delaney, who took over as interim CEO before that appointment was made permanent.
Rooney subsequently pursued a career in law, qualifying as a barrister in 2008 at the age of 52. He maintained his connection with sport and football and established a practice, Sports Law International, “to provide legal, managerial, professional financial services, advice and support to ensure that athletes across Europe receive all the necessary assistance to enable them to participate fully, correctly and effectively in their sport and career.
In 2011, he represented then Monaghan United manager Roddy Collins in his battle with the FAI when an FAI disciplinary committee handed down a penalty for 'disparaging comments' made by Collins on RTÉ radio, a six-match ban and a fine of €1,000.
Rooney emerged again in 2019 following the departure of his controversial successor, Delaney, when he was highly critical of the original arrangement, which would have seen Delaney leave his CEO post but retain another FAI role, as well as his position in the UEFA Executive Committee.
Rooney had a huge impact on Irish business and headed one of the country's first technology giants.
The company he helped build, IT security firm Baltimore Technologies, went public on the US Nasdaq Exchange during the first big dot-com boom of the late 1990s. At its peak it was valued by the markets at $13 billion, a level rarely reached by any Irish tech company before or since. The company's meteoric rise was recognized in Ireland, with Rooney receiving several entrepreneurial awards, including Business & Finance's Businessman of the Year for 2000.
However, Baltimore Technologies was among the technology companies that saw their valuation plummet after the stock market crash in early 2000.
Before IT security, Rooney held a number of management positions at a wide range of companies and institutions, including National Irish Bank, An Post and Quay Financial Software.
After resigning from Baltimore Technologies in 2001, he helped develop Ice Broadband with one of his daughters. In recent years he became involved in blockchain technology.
He is survived by his children Yvonne, Dave, Laura and their spouses, his ex-wife Mary, his partner Jackie, two grandchildren and four siblings.
A funeral announcement on RIP.ie said he died peacefully on Monday, surrounded by his family, at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin.
The message read: 'He will be sadly missed by his children Yvonne, Dave, Laura and their husbands Brian, Emma, Gary, his grandchildren Seán and Daire, ex-wife Mary, loving partner Jackie. Beloved son of the late John and Dolores and dear brother of John, Joe, Dermot, Imelda and the late Raymond. RIP A special thank you to St. Vincent's Hospital for their long-term care of Fran and the staff at Beaumont Hospital who took great care of him in his final days.
Mr Rooney will rest at Cunningham's Funeral Home, Church Avenue, Blanchardstown on Thursday evening from 5pm to 7pm, with removal to the Church of Our Lady Mother of the Church in Castleknock on Friday morning at 11am, followed by cremation at Newlands Cross Crematorium.