DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Colm McLoughlin, an Irishman who landed in the deserts of the United Arab Emirates and assisted lead Dubai Duty Free into endingupbeing an airport retail leviathan getting billions of dollars, has passedaway. He was81
McLoughlin ran Dubai Duty Free from 1983 till he retired earlier this year, a period of over 40 years that saw Dubai grow from a creekside trading port into a modern-day metropolis, home to the world’s highest structure and other destinations.
And all the millions of travelers coming into Dubai International Airport, now the world’s busiest for global travel, saw the rows of electronicdevices, cigarettes, stogies, alcohol and other items readilyavailable duty-free at his shops, hawked by a salesforce in green fit coats, yellow ties and speaking in numerous languages.
“It’s a really Middle Eastern kind of thing,” McLoughlin informed the Los Angeles Times in 1987 as he revealed off its gold market. “We have to cater to a lot of tastes.”
Dubai Duty Free stated in a declaration that McLoughlin passedaway Wednesday after a brief disease, without elaborating. The operation’s brand-new handling director, Ramesh Cidambi, applauded McLoughlin for steering its “growth to a $2 billion dollar service with over 6,000 staffmembers at the time of his retirement.”
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, used acknowledgements for his death Friday.
“With a heavy heart, we grieve the passing of Colm McLoughlin, a differentiated v