Eileen O’Brien, the mother of longtime Daily News advertising executive Kevin O’Brien and matriarch to a global clan of admirers, died Friday at the age of 83.
O’Brien, the ninth of 11 children born on a small farm in Ireland’s County Mayo, immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 17 to live with her three maternal aunts in Chester, Pa. She married Hubert O’Brien in 1964, leaving the Keystone State for a new life together in New York — splitting time between Yonkers and Riverdale in the Bronx.
The couple welcomed four children, followed by 13 grandchildren, as Eileen took on the roles of devoted wife, mother, sister, aunt and grandmother. She also served as a welcoming figure to friends and family from around the world, with a visit to New York inevitably including a visit to the O’Brien house for tea and a tasty meal.
Her beloved niece Breda Lyons said, “The kettle would be on, something would be baking and the smell was always wonderful. And if you closed your eyes for a moment, it was as if you had never left home. She was our American mother and to my girls their American grandmother.”
“She touched so many lives with simple kindness and generosity,” the family said in a statement. “She will be missed by a great number of people.”
O’Brien, who worked for more than a quarter-century at the city Board of Education, is survived by her husband and their four children: Maureen, Erin and husband David Bergerson, Kevin and wife Laura, and Hugh and wife Tara, along with her grandkids.
Due to COVID-19, services will be private and by invitation only. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in the name of Eileen O’Brien to the Emerald Isle Immigration Center.