Famous television host and comedian Conan O’Brien’s parents, Dr Thomas O’Brien and Ruth Reardon O’Brien, passed away just three days apart. Thomas was 95, while Ruth was 92.
According to an obituary posted by the Bell-O’Dea Funeral Home, Ruth passed away on Thursday at their Brookline, Massachusetts, home, while Thomas passed away on Monday after “his health had been failing”.
Thomas, who was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on January 28, 1929, obtained a full scholarship and an M.D. cum laude degree from Harvard Medical School in 1954.
Thomas’s most well-known contributions over his more than 60-year career were in the field of antimicrobial drug resistance research. Additionally, he served as the first director of the infectious diseases department of the hospital that is now known as Brigham and Women’s Hospital. At Harvard Medical School, he was also an associate professor.
Ruth was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1931. She was one of just four female students in her Yale Law School class when she graduated in 1957. Additionally, she was chosen to serve as the student government’s vice president.
Ruth worked as a legal clerk for Chief Justice Raymond Wilkins of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1956 to 1957. Later, she practised real estate law at the Boston-based Ropes & Gray law firm, where she became the second woman as a partner in 1978.
Ruth and Thomas met through her brothers and were married in 1958. Conan was one of their six children together.
Sources reported that the former host of a late-night talk show said his father “was often the funniest guy in the room,” adding that when he laughed, “his whole body would convulse and he would almost hug himself.”
Conan said that his father “had a keen interest in people, ideas and the absurd diversity and irony of life. He wanted to go everywhere, meet everybody, see everything, taste everything.”
They have nine grandchildren, daughters Kate and Jane and sons Justin, Neal and Luke in addition to Conan.
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