Dr. Thomas O’Brien and Ruth Reardon O’Brien, the parents of beloved comedian Conan O’Brien, died three days apart this week after 66 years of marriage.
Dr. O’Brien was in failing health prior to his death Monday at age 95, according to a report in The Boston Globe, which spoke to members of the O’Brien family. Ruth O’Brien died “peacefully” Thursday at 92, an obituary said.
The two were residents of Brookline, Massachusetts. Their causes of death have not been publicly disclosed.
Dr. O’Brien, known for his work in antimicrobial drug resistance, was an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, where he’d obtained a medical degree. He was also the first director of the infectious diseases division at what would become Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He retired in 2019 at age 90, per the Globe.
In his personal life, “Dr. O’Brien made sure his children knew comedy’s classics,” including the works of entertainers Jack Benny, the Marx Brothers and Charlie Chaplin, the outlet wrote.
“The loudest I’ve ever heard anybody laugh was sitting next to him in a theater watching Peter Sellers in a ‘Pink Panther’ movie,” Conan O’Brien told the Globe
“But he was often the funniest guy in the room,” recalled the younger O’Brien, who himself studied history and literature at Harvard University before becoming a household name as a late night host. “And when he would laugh, his whole body would convulse and he would almost hug himself.”
He noted: “For the rest of my time on earth I will be hearing from people who want to talk with me about my dad. … I’ve never met anyone like him, and he happens to be my father. If I met him randomly in a hotel lobby, I’d think, ‘Who the hell is this guy? He’s the most interesting person I’ve ever met.’”
Ben Margot/Associated Press
Ruth O’Brien attended Yale Law School in the 1950s and was one of only four women in her class. She became a law clerk at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and then married Dr. O’Brien, who’d been her brothers’ classmate, in 1958. She made partner at Ropes & Gray in 1978, marking the firm’s second female partner, and retired in 1996.
In a 2017 tribute to his mother’s accomplishments, Conan O’Brien reflected on growing up with his family.
“There were six kids, two dogs, a cat, my grandmother, a parakeet — I’m not kidding — that house was a kind of madness sometimes,” he said. “Lovely madness, but madness still the same.”
He said of his parents, “I don’t know how they worked it out, but they worked it out pretty well. We’re all here, we’re all alive. I don’t know how they did it.”
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The late couple are survived by children Neal, Luke, Conan, Kate, Jane and Justin O’Brien, as well as nine grandchildren. A funeral mass is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at the St. Lawrence Church in Brookline.
Conan O’Brien, who shares two children of his own with wife Liza Powel O’Brien, is set to host the Academy Awards in March.