Both Ruth and Thomas O’Brien were born in Worcester, Massachusetts. The pair stayed together till the end of their lives after being married in 1958.
Neal, Luke, Conan, Kate, Jane, Justin, and Neal were their six children, and they had nine grandchildren at the time of their deaths.
Ruth O’Brien became the second-ever female partner at Boston’s Ropes & Gray law firm after graduating from Yale Law School in 1956 as one of four female graduates.
After graduating, Thomas O’Brien worked as an associate professor at Harvard Medical School for the majority of his medical career until his retirement in 2019.
Additionally, he was the first head of the infectious diseases department at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
