Richard O’Brien died May 18, 2012 at age 78. He was born in Flushing, N.Y. and was the son of the late John and Milada O’Brien. He graduated from Brooklyn College and served in the United States Army. He had a varied career as a press agent, gag writer, expert on collectible toys, creator of two syndicated comic strips and writer of both fiction and non-fiction. As a press agent, he was responsible for kicking off the careers of Woody Allen, Bill Cosby, Joan Rivers and Flip Wilson. Since 1968, he had held a continuing job as a gag writer for Woody Allen.
While living in Beaufort, S.C. he became a surfer at the age of 63 and was a regular at Hunting Island State Park, where he was accepted as “just one of the guys” by the much younger regular surfers.
He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Mary Ann, and four children, Alison Marek (Alex) of Playa Vista, Calif.; Sean O’Brien (Elaine) of Neptune, N.J.; Rebecca Gage (Mike) of Austin, Texas and Julie Petoia of Tryon. He is also survived by eight grandchildren, Cabot Lee, Talia, Malynne, Gabriel, Jacob, Jeremiah, Callum and Evangeline Petoia, all of Tryon. There will be no funeral services but the family will be at home at 60 Bickford Avenue, Tryon, N.C. from 3 until 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 23.
Online condolences may be made at www.crowemortuary.com.
Crowe’s Mortuary/Rutherford Cremation Service is assisting the O’Brien family.