Patrick J. O’Brien ’62 died on April 15, 2020, in Dover, New Hampshire.   

(The following appeared in the Lowell Sun on April 19, 2020)

Patrick J. O’Brien, 79, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, passed away Wednesday, April 15, 2020, at Bellamy Fields in Dover, New Hampshire.

For 46 years, he was the beloved husband of Anne M. (Cooney) O’Brien who survives him and with whom he resided in Portsmouth, NH and Jupiter Island, FL.

Born in Lowell, MA, January 10, 1941, Pat was the oldest child of Elizabeth (Jump) O’Brien and Leon O’Brien. Pat attended the Immaculate Conception School and Keith Academy High School, graduating in 1958. He graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME, in 1962 with a degree in chemistry. Throughout his high school and college years, Pat played basketball as a guard.

Pat was an Army veteran and from 1963-65, while in the Army, he received the Distinguished Joint Service Commendation Medal from the Secretary of Defense for meritorious service during the period July 1963 to January 1965 serving as a member of the Office of Telecommunications, National Security Agency, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.

In 1965, Pat began his career in the chemical business and worked in this field until his retirement in 2006. He began his long and industrious career at Hooker Chemical in Niagara Falls, NY, in 1965 and was employed at other chemical companies in the U.S. In 1983 he founded Focus Chemical Corporation, a niche business, located in Portsmouth, NH. At Focus, his chemical distribution company imported highly specialized chemicals from Europe, Asia, and Brazil. Pat was a member of the NACD (National Association of Chemical Distributors), the New England Chemical Club, and the Portsmouth Country Club in Greenland, NH.

Pat was an avid reader, boater, family man and gentleman. He will be remembered by friends and family for his infectious laugh, laid back personality and great sense of humor.

In addition to his wife, Anne, he is survived by his daughter, Christine A. O’Brien of Brisbane, Australia; his siblings: Maureen (O’Brien) Finnegan of Norwalk, CT; Laurence O’Brien and his wife, Vicki, of Salisbury, MA; Margaret (O’Brien) Meade and her husband, Brian, of Lowell, MA; Brenda (O’Brien) Schroer and her husband, Edward, of Lowell, MA, as well as many nieces and nephews.