Conan O'Brien Pays Tribute to His 'Heroic' Mother and 'Dreamer' Father After They Died Within Days of Each Other

12/20/2024 03:35 PM

His father Thomas died at age 95 on Dec. 9 and his mother Ruth died three days later at age 92

Conan O'Brien is reflecting on the beautiful lives his parents led following their deaths.

The comedian's dad, Dr. Thomas O'Brien, died on Monday, Dec. 9 after "his health had been failing," The Boston Globereported. Three days later, his wife Ruth Reardon O'Brien died "peacefully" on Dec. 12, according to an obituary shared by the Bell-O'Dea Funeral Home in Brookline, Mass.

Thomas was 95 and Ruth was 92. They had been married for 66 years.

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For his parents' obituaries in the Globe, Conan, 61, described his dad as "the dreamer" of the pair while his mom was "the realist."

"My dad was the one who was saying 'I'm off to Peru with a change of clothes in my briefcase to try and launch this website for a hospital there high in the mountains,'" he said.

Thomas was best known for his work in antimicrobial drug resistance research and served as the first director of the infectious diseases division at what is now Brigham and Women's Hospital. While his father traveled the world, Conan sometimes got to tag along, and he recalled a seventh-grade trip to South America as a particularly insightful experience they shared.

"He thought, 'You're going to learn more traveling through these various neighborhoods and cities in South America for a week and a half than you will in public school in Brookline.' I think he put the travel bug in me."

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Ruth was equally revered in her own field, and Conan called her "iconic" as he said she was always doing "all this mom stuff" while also climbing the ladder to become the "second woman partner at Ropes & Gray."

"As my dad was rushing around doing this incredible work, my mom was the one who really saw to it when we were little kids that we were fed and our clothes were laid out, and that we got to our dental appointments and medical appointments."

His parents were "incredibly hard-working and disciplined," he told the outlet, as he said, "I think what my mother and father saw in each other was that they were kindred spirits."

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The couple, who wed in 1958, also share sons Justin, Neal, and Luke, and daughters Kate and Jane, plus nine grandchildren, two of which Conan shares with his wife Liza Powel O'Brien.

A funeral was held for both Thomas and Ruth on Wednesday, Dec. 18 in Chestnut Hill, Mass.