Conan O’Brien has tragically lost both his mother and father in the same week.
The beloved comedian’s father, Dr. Thomas O’Brien, died Monday (December 9) at his home in Boston at the age of 95. His death, according to the Boston Globe, came after his “health had been failing.”
Thomas’s wife of 66 years, Ruth Reardon O’Brien, died Thursday (December 12), aged 92.
Speaking to the newspaper about his father, O’Brien recalled: “My father was in constant motion. And he was interested in everything — absolutely everything.”
Thomas was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1929. He later attended the College of the Holy Cross, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in classics. While there, he befriended two classmates who were brothers of Ruth, whom he met one day when he visited the family home. They got married in 1958.
After graduating from the College of Holy Cross in 1950, Thomas went to Harvard Medical School before completing his residency at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. He served two years in the Army Medical Corps in San Antonio, Texas.
Thomas then returned to Harvard Medical School, where he spent most of his medical career. He also worked at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, becoming the institution’s first director of the infectious diseases division.
He continued to work at both Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s for more than 60 years, working as an associate professor at the former. He eventually retired in 2019 at the age of 90.
Meanwhile, Ruth — also born and raised in Worcester — had a separate and equally successful career in law. A graduate of Vassar College and Yale Law School, she was one of only four women in her law school class.
From 1956 to 1957, she was a law clerk for The Honorable Raymond Wilkins, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. For the rest of her career, she worked as a Boston real estate attorney at Ropes & Gray and, in 1978, became the second woman to become a partner at the firm.
Thomas and Ruth raised their six children in Brookline. Thomas had a love of comedy — he watched late-night talk shows throughout his medical residency — and introduced his children to comedy classics, including Charlie Chaplin and Marx Brothers movies.
“He was often the funniest guy in the room. And when he would laugh, his whole body would convulse and he would almost hug himself,” O’Brien, who will make his Oscar hosting debut at the 2025 ceremony, told the Boston Globe.
Along with O’Brien, Ruth and Thomas shared five other children: Neal, Jane, Justin, Kate and Luke. They are also survived by nine grandchildren: Neve, Beckett, Paget, Eamonn, Declan, Grace, Irene, Finn, and Caitlin, as well as 15 nieces and nephews.
