Robert J. O'Brien (June 5, 1858 – May 9, 1948) was an American

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...

, politician, and philanthropist. He served on the

Cincinnati City Council The Cincinnati City Council is the lawmaking body of Cincinnati, Ohio. The nine-member city council is elected at-large in a single election in which each voter chooses nine candidates from the field. The nine top vote-getters win seats on the co ...

and in the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of t ...

Biography

Early life

Robert J. O'Brien was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on June 5, 1858, to Robert O'Brien and Mary Dwyer, who had emigrated to the United States from Ireland six years earlier. O'Brien attended

Manhattan College Manhattan University (previously Manhattan College) is a private, Catholic university in New York City. Originally established in 1853 by the De La Salle Christian Brothers (Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools) as an academy fo ...

and then served as a

law clerk A law clerk, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...

to George P. Wetmore from 1873 to 1877.

Career

In 1880, O'Brien moved to

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

to open a hotel, eventually owning several, in addition to residential dwellings, cafes, and saloons. This is despite the fact that O'Brien stated he did not drink alcohol. By 1888, he became active in local politics, running for

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

as a Democrat. By 1902, he was councilman for the Sixth Ward of Cincinnati, a position he would be re-elected to six times, twice without opposition. This territory had over 250 saloons within it. He was an advocate for a unified intercity railroad terminal for the city of Cincinnati, as the city had five different stations at the time, all prone to flooding. He also recommended the acquisition of the

Cincinnati Zoo The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is the second oldest zoo in the United States, founded in 1873 and officially opening in 1875. It is located in the Avondale neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. It originally began with in the middle of the ...

by the city government during a time of financial trouble for the zoo. In 1916, O'Brien won a seat in the Ohio Senate as a Republican representing Hamilton County, promising to "go up to Columbus to work for Cincinnati". He was re-elected in 1918, and retired from politics in 1920.

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

forced the closure of his saloon businesses, allowing O'Brien to travel the world in his retirement. O'Brien was a major donor to many Cincinnati religious institutions, including to Good Samaritan Hospital and

Saint Gregory Seminary Saint Gregory Seminary, also known as Mount Saint Gregory, was a Minor seminary, high school and college seminary of the Catholic Church in Mount Washington, Cincinnati, serving the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in Ohio. Founded in 1890 by bishop Wi ...

. He also was a spokesman for the well-beings of orphans in the city of Cincinnati, advocating for the reform of orphanage conditions and establishing a fund for the use of orphanages in Hamilton County.

Death

Robert J. O'Brien died on May 9, 1948, at the age of 89, at Good Samaritan Hospital. His

requiem mass A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is u ...

was said at St. Francis Xavier Church, and he was buried in his private mausoleum at New St. Joseph Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Robert J. 1858 births 1948 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century Ohio politicians 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century members of the Ohio General Assembly American businesspeople in real estate American financiers American people of Irish descent Businesspeople from Cincinnati Businesspeople from New York City Catholics from New York (state) Catholics from Ohio Cincinnati City Council members Manhattan College alumni Philanthropists from Ohio Politicians from New York City Republican Party Ohio state senators Ohio Democrats