Conan O’Brien Experiences Dual Family Tragedies Just Days Apart

Conan O’Brien sadly lost both his mother and his father, who died just days apart this week. His father, renowned physician Dr. Thomas O’Brien, who was a pioneer in the research of antimicrobial resistance, passed away on Monday, Dec. 9., at age 95. And then three days later on Thursday, Dec. 12, his mother, Ruth Reardon O’Brien, 92, passed. Both died at their Brookline, MA home.

According to a Boston Globe obituary, Dr. O'Brien's health had been failing, whereas his wife of 66 years was said to have "passed away peacefully." Including their son Conan,, the couple had six children together.

Dr. O’Brien was credited with co-directing and cofounding the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre for Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance. He helped lay the ground work to address the threats of antimicrobial resistance by employing databases that allowed doctors to quickly respond to antibiotic resistance outbreaks. As part of his work, he traveled the world, visiting small hospitals in developing nations; bringing together physicians, researchers, and technicians who became part of a larger effort.

"A lot of what he did was create a family," said his colleague, Dr. John Stelling. "Everybody contributes their little bit, and their little bit in aggregate tells a lot about emerging threats in close to real time."

Meanwhile, O'Brien's mother Ruth was accomplished in her own right, becoming the second-ever female partner at the law firm Ropes & Gray.

"Science has said there’s no such thing as perpetual motion, but my father was proof that that was wrong," O’Brien said of his father in an interview with the Globe. "My father was in constant motion. And he was interested in everything—absolutely everything."

The late night host seemingly got his sense of humor from his father, who was also a fan of comedy and late night talk shows, which he watched during his years as a medical resident. He also made sure to introduce his kids to classic comedy such as recordings of Jack Benny’s radio shows and Charlie Chaplin and Marx Brothers movies.

"The loudest I’ve ever heard anybody laugh was sitting next to him in a theater watching Peter Sellers in a Pink Panther movie," O’Brien recalled. He said that while people thought his father was a "fascinating man" due to his work, he was also "often the funniest guy in the room."

"When he would laugh, his whole body would convulse and he would almost hug himself," the 61-year-old remembered, adding that his father "had a voracious appetite for ideas and people and the crazy variety and irony of life. He wanted to go everywhere, meet everybody, see everything, taste everything."

"For the rest of my time on earth I will be hearing from people who want to talk with me about my dad," O’Brien added. "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.'"