May 19, 2026
As volunteer barkeep for CIM and Celtic Junction events, Mike said he met more people than he’d ever imagined.
Gloria Lynch’s heritage was Norwegian and “honorary Irish” after years of volunteering alongside Mike.
The path that led Mike to CIM started with his Kentucky roots: ”Bluegrass is converted Irish traditional music,” he said in the Éigse interview. And while studying engineering at Bemidji State College, Mike received through a record-of-the-month subscription–hugely popular in the 1960s–a “bonus album” of traditional Irish folk music.
His interest was piqued by those trad players and singers, but it wasn’t until his late 30s that Mike became a bodhrán student. He learned via cassette tapes mailed between Minnesota and his instructors on the East Coast and in Nova Scotia.
To keep a hand in music while raising his boys and running with Gloria the family business, Controls and Meters Inc., Mike played in sessions around the Twin Cities.
“Mike was a fixture at the Wednesday-night Kieran’s Irish Pub sessions back in the early 2000s,” said CIM instructor and ensemble director Brian Miller. “He got a kick out of me and my under-21 Bemidji friends. We used to perform as The Gaels, and when we’d show up we could only drink root beer at the session.”
Through countless sessions, Mike came to know many musicians, including Kate Wade and Jode Dowling, who in 2004 turned true the belief that St. Paul could be home to a traditional Irish music school.
Mike served on the CIM board of directors from 2007 to 2025, including six years as president. Over his long tenure, CIM grew from fewer than 50 students to nearly 500 today.
“It was one employee and volunteer-run back then,” Mike said. “And now, our students go someplace and people see their CIM t-shirts and say, ‘Oh, you’re from the Irish music school in Minnesota.’ We’re acknowledged as one of the best Irish music schools in the country.”
During Mike’s years on the board, the Center for Irish Music established its permanent home at Celtic Junction, expanded its faculty with exceptional instructors, grew to offer instruction on 16 instruments, strengthened both Minnesota Irish Music Weekend and the annual Éigse fundraiser, and developed a community outreach program that created more opportunities for students to perform publicly. Through it all, the organization not only endured the challenges of the pandemic—when all lessons moved online—but continued to grow and thrive.
Past CIM board member Mike O’Connor, who served between 2011 and 2025, said, “Mike Lynch’s leadership on the CIM Board combined his deep passion for Irish music and his business skills. He always had his eye on the future and how to build CIM into the thriving Irish music school we have become. He epitomized generosity of his time, talent and treasure.”
Mike showing off a CIM logo and banner from the early days. He served on the board for 18 years.
Norah Rendell, executive artistic director, said Mike and Gloria’s generosity was an incredible gift to CIM.
A few years ago, when Mike decided to put down his bodhrán–”I beat my hands up over the years and they are too stiff and sore now,” he said in 2021–he donated it to the CIM rental-instrument program, a program that serves more than 20 percent of CIM’s students every year.
The Lynches were also among CIM’s most generous financial supporters, from Gloria as a legendary Éigse silent-auction bidder to their investments in stability and growth.
Executive artistic director Norah Rendell pointed to a plaque outside CIM Classroom 2 that reads, “This room is generously supported by a donation in memory of Gloria Lynch.” “I’ll always think about Mike and Gloria, and all they did for the CIM, every time I walk by that room,” Norah said. “They were good people and good friends. We’ll never forget them.”
Read the family's Tribute to Gloria & Mike Lynch
From left to right: Pat McCormick, John McCormick and Mike at Éigse 2015.
Teresa McCormick, Mike and Becky Bollinger in full volunteer mode at a CIM event.