Ryan Tubridy leads tributes for former RTE star Simon Young

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Ryan Tubridy led tributes yesterday to former RTE radio and TV presenter Simon Young.

The 2fm DJ, whose real name was Thomas Meade, had been living in Washington DC in the US.

The well-known Dubliner, originally from Glasnevin, died on Sunday aged 70.

The veteran host started his career in pirate radio and DJing in the 1970s before becoming a household name and familiar voice on the state broadcaster.

The star was known for presenting shows such as
The Beatbox and made contributions to the cult children’s television show Dempsey’s Den, hosted by Ian Dempsey.

Tributes flooded in from Young’s former colleagues and friends after news of his passing broke, with Late Late Show host Tubridy l describing Young as “the nicest man”.

“I was desperately sad to hear about this,” he told his RTE Radio One listeners on Monday morning, as he recalled how Young helped him when he was a
teenager starting out at the national broadcaster.

He said: “I can tell you that Simon Young was somebody very instrumental to my early days in RTE.

“He presented a show called ‘Poparama’ for a long time with Ruth Buchanan and when I was about 12 or 13 years old I came in to review books. I was a kid, so why would he be nice to me? And yet he was lovely and very welcoming, so that was a very personal connection with Simon.”

Former colleague, Ian Dempsey, added: “Extremely sad news about Thomas Anthony Meade AKA Simon Young RIP – a naturally deep-thinking, soul-loving, funny friend.”

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Dustin the Turkey also paid tribute to his late buddy, and recalled the craic they had together.

He told the Irish Mirror: “A proper messer, Young by name, Young by nature. We’d great craic on The Den with Simon as each week he brought us The Pop Gossip proving beyond proof that we didn’t use scripts!”

The late TV and radio star had previously spoken out about his struggle with depression and near death health scares over the years.

He told Hot Press in 2011: “While I was in hospital my weight ballooned up to 28 stone… they had to operate on me to drain the fluid. There were several times when it looked like it was all over for me. The priest was called three times and I was actually given the last rites.”