What can you say about David Ker? Flamboyant, charming, warm, generous, and possessed of an encyclopedic memory, David Ker was a larger-than-life figure. We are very saddened to hear of his passing at the age of just 74.
As well as being a fine art dealer and a partner in Dickinson's, trading works by amongst others, Titian, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Picasso, David was a scion of the Ker family of Portavo in County Down.
In their prime, the Kers were one of the largest landowning families in the north of Ireland, owning at the height of their ascent, Whitehead, Ballycarry, Ballynahinch and Downpatrick, along with tens of thousands of acres of prime agricultural land.
Their story of their rise and fall is told in White Row author Peter Carr's Portavo: an Irish townland and its peoples. Peter would like to record his gratitude to David for his many kindnesses, and for the immense help he gave him when researching the books.