The parents of television host and comedian Conan O'Brien's died three days apart.
Dr. Thomas O'Brien died Dec. 9 at age 95 after "his health had been failing," the Boston Globe reported. Ruth Reardon O'Brien died Dec. 12 at age 92, according to an obituary shared by the Bell-O'Dea Funeral Home.
Born on Jan. 28, 1929, in Worcester, Massachusetts, Thomas O'Brien graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1954 with an M.D. cum laude, receiving a full scholarship, The Hollywood Reporter noted. He became renowned for his research on antimicrobial drug resistance.
Thomas O'Brien was the first director of the infectious diseases division at what is now Brigham and Women's Hospital and held the position of associate professor at Harvard Medical School.
Reardon O'Brien, born Dec. 16, 1931, in Worcester, Massachusetts, graduated from Yale Law School in 1957 as one of only four women in her class. During her time at Yale, she was also elected vice president of the student government.
Reardon O'Brien served as a law clerk from 1956-57 for Chief Justice Raymond Wilkins of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. She later became a real estate attorney at the Ropes & Gray law firm in Boston, and in 1978, she was named the second woman to be made partner at the firm.
The O'Briens married in 1958 and had six children, including Conan O'Brien, who said his father "was often the funniest guy in the room."
"When he would laugh, his whole body would convulse and he would almost hug himself," he said.
Conan O'Brien added that his dad "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."
Thomas and Ruth O'Brien are survived by their sons Conan, Justin, Neal and Luke; daughters Kate and Jane; and nine grandchildren.