Elva L O'Brien

Died on January 7, 2016. She would have been 97 years of age in February. Mrs. O''Brien was born on February 13, 1919, in West Springfield, Massachusetts to Henry and Mary (Choquette) Brassard. On May 30, 1944, she married Lawrence F. O''Brien, Jr. at St. Joseph''s Church in Springfield. Mr. O''Brien went on to twice serve as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, as a senior White House aide to Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, and as Commissioner of the National Basketball Association. They were married for 46 years before Mr. O''Brien passed away in New York City in September of 1990. Mrs. O''Brien resided in Washington, DC, from 1961-1973, before moving to New York City in 1973 where she lived at 860 U.N. Plaza for more than 40 years. She spent summers at her home in the town of Cotuit on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. A thoughtful and generous philanthropist, Mrs. O''Brien was involved in the Archbishop''s Christmas Appeal/Catholic Charities of New York and also supported the New York Public Library, the Cotuit Library Association in Barnstable on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and the Environmental Film Festival in Washington, DC. Mrs. O''Brien was instrumental in creating the "Lawrence F. O''Brien Gallery" exhibit space within the National Archives in Washington, DC. She was fiercely loyal to her family and friends, possessed a keen sense of humor and was a person inclined to speak her mind. Her passion for books and for reading was legendary. Mrs. O''Brien is survived by her beloved son, Lawrence F. O''Brien, III and his wife, Helen (Powell) O''Brien of Washington, DC; and her two cherished grandsons, Luke O''Brien and Peter O''Brien, both also of Washington, D.C.