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.