Aidan Maher, the Mercer Island Reporter’s advertising representative and staff member, is retiring this week after 17 years with the company. Maher will spend his time serving as president of the Seattle Irish Immigrant Support Group and finishing a training program through Seattle University for teaching English as a second language. We will miss him.

Where were you born and where did you grow up:

I’m from Dublin, Ireland. I moved to Toronto, Canada, in my mid-20s because my wife’s family lived there. Then we returned to Ireland later for a year and a half, my sister suggested I enter the lottery for a visa to the U.S. We won, so we decided, well, let’s give it a try. Seventeen years later, we’re still here.

Why did you choose this area to move to:

We chose Kirkland (for our two sons) because at the time, the schools were pretty good.

What skills do you need to be an ad rep:

The same skills you need for sales anywhere, really. The most important skill in sales is stick-to-itiveness — persistence, I suppose. The rest kind of falls into place.

What has been your favorite part of your job? What will you miss:

I’ll miss the people whom I deal with; they’re really nice people. Over that time period, you get to know them pretty well. They become friends, and it’s hard to leave your friends.

What would you like people to know about advertising:

One of the things is people still buy our paper, which is fairly uncommon nowadays for local papers. It’s good to know that people are actually reading the paper and seeing the advertisements.

Best moment on Mercer Island:

My proudest moment on MI was the 2000 signing of a sister city agreement between the city of Mercer Island and Thonon-les-Bains in France because I was the founder of the sister city organization. I’m grateful to the community here for making a job for me, and I wanted to do something in return.

What is the biggest change you have seen since you began working here:

Mercer Island is now more like a city than a village.