The death has occurred of Katherine BRICK (née McSorley)
Nashville, Tennessee, USA and formerly, Omagh, Tyrone

Katherine of Omagh, Co. Tyrone married Ian Brick on December 30, 1968 in Belfast. They brought their family to America in 1984 and moved to Nashville in 1987. Katherine along with her husband Ian initiated a sister cities link between Belfast, Ireland and Nashville, Tennessee which has resulted in an annual Belfast/Nashville songwriters festival. She encouraged tourism, cultural and economic ties between the two cities. Katherine was also a supporter of the Avon Breast Cancer Walk and Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art along with many other charities in Nashville. A private funeral Service will be held this Monday, February 25. A celebration of her life will be held from 5pm to 9pm on Saturday, March 1 at 31 Inveraray, Nashville, Tennessee. The family respectfully requests no flowers.

I knew Katherine and Ian Brick from my student days at Queen’s, when Ian became President of the Student’s Union in 1967….

Katherine and Ian Brick were major players in the Atlantic Bridges project to build cultural links between Northern Ireland and the American South, and I helped initiate it with them in 1994.

Born in Rosebery Street, East Belfast, Ian received all of his formal education in Northern Ireland….

In 1980 Ian and two partners founded the Institute of Clinical Pharmacology in Dublin.The company went public in 1984 on NASDAQ and this necessitated the emigration of the Brick family to the USA. The company was engaged in worldwide clinical trials of newly discovered pharmaceutical compounds particularly in the HIV research field. Ian and Katherine moved to Nashville in 1987….

In 1990 Ian founded Pharmaceutical Laboratory Services in Baltimore, Maryland, which was subsequently purchased by his major competitor in 1994.

Katherine along with Ian initiated a Sister Cities link between Belfast, and Nashville, Tennessee which has resulted in the annual Belfast/Nashville Songwriters Festival….