Michael O'Brien: 'Didn't Believe in
Shortcuts'
Pity
anyone who fell asleep at one of Michael O'Brien's
parties. A drowsy offender might wake up with a
mascara
mustache, hands full of shaving cream or, as his
brother-in-law Don once discovered, shaved legs.
"He could always make me laugh," said his wife,
Rachel. She encountered his sense of humor on the first
Christmas she visited his family's house. She had a
headache. He said all he had were chewable aspirin. She
chewed. He laughed. She gagged.
Mr. O'Brien's sense of humor balanced his practical
side. In 1990, he and a few associates successfully
started their own municipal bond trading company. In
2000, they sold it to Cantor Fitzgerald and Mr. O'Brien
became vice president for Cantor's municipal bond
desk.
Mr. O'Brien, 42, was a stickler for detail; he would
research cameras for weeks before buying one and then
wouldn't snap a single shot until he had read the entire
manual. "Anything he did he took from start to finish,"
said Craig Calafiore, a close friend. "Mike didn't
believe in shortcuts."
That was especially so when it came to being a father
to his three children. He coached soccer and took the
whole family camping and rafting every summer. Then his
wife would stay home and he took the children camping on
his own. "The look in his eyes when he saw his children
summed up everything," said his sister Bridget. "He
raised the bar on fatherhood."
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