Inducted in 2019
Attorney; Financial Services Executive
Chairman, Catholic Charities
Member, Prep Board of Trustees (2005-2011)

From an early age, Ed O’Brien knew he would be attending Fordham Prep.  First, there was the matter of his middle name — Ignatius — which just about guaranteed a Jesuit connection in his future.  Second, there was the decree of his father. 

As Ed would tell the story, one day in the mid-1930s, his father brought him across the Bronx to Rose Hill and made the pronouncement: “Edward, this is where you are going to high school.”  When young Eddie asked why, he was met with a clear and definitive response: “Because this is where I went to high school.”

Edward’s father had indeed attended the Prep — still called the Second Division of St. John’s College in those days — during the first few years of the 20th century.  He was also likely among the last generation of students to attend St. John’s Grammar, Fordham’s now-defunct middle school that had persisted from the school’s 19th-century Third Division.  

Edward Ignatius O’Brien, Jr. was born in New York City in 1928.  His mother, Marguerite Malone O’Brien was an executive secretary for General Electric who would leave the work force to raise her family and later launch a successful career as a private investor.  His father, Edward, Sr., a World War I veteran, was a civil engineer. 

Young Eddie grew up in the Indian Village of the Morris Park section of the Bronx (then known as Bronx Heights) along with his younger sister, Patricia Ann, who would go on to enter the Dominican Sisters of Sparkhill.  The O’Brien Family were members of St. Francis Xavier Church, only blocks from their Narragansett Avenue home.  Ed and his sister would also attend the parish’s grammar school.

In September of 1942, Ed boarded a westbound #12 Bus to carry on his father’s legacy and take his place on the rosters of Rose Hill as a member of the Prep Class of 1946. 

During his Hughes Hall years, “Obi” — one of his Prep nicknames — was deeply involved with just about every aspect of school life, taking on leadership roles in key clubs and organizations. Ed swam, was a three-year trackman, and served on the Athletic Council and the Council of Discipline under fellow Hall of Honor inductee, Fr. Arthur Shea, SJ.  He was a member of the Chemistry Club, the German Club, the Rampart yearbook staff, and even worked with the Radio Club.  As a grand knight of the Knights of the Blessed Sacrament, Edward was a model of piety to his classmates; as prefect of the Sodality, he oversaw the devotional and charitable activities of its membership; and as the business manager of the school newspaper, he kept the staff on budget and raised funds by selling ad space to local establishments.

Graduating the Prep in 1946, O’Brien stayed on at Rose Hill, earning his undergraduate degree from the University in 1950 before heading across the Whitestone Bridge to attend law school at St. John’s in Queens.

In 1959, Ed married Miss Margaret Feeney, a Latin teacher, herself a Ram (or Ewe, as it were) with a degree from Fordham University’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.  Reaching back in his memory to his own freshman year Latin vocabulary lessons over 75 years earlier, Ed would affectionately note at the time of his Hall of Honor induction, “It is only a very clever and lucky puer who gets to marry a smart and beautiful Latin teacher.” 

Ed and Margaret would have four children: Edward III, Margaret, Thomas and John.  Edward and Thomas would follow in their father’s (and grandfather’s) footsteps, graduating with the Prep Classes of 1976 and 1980 respectively, and Margaret, too, earn her own Maroon credentials, graduating from Fordham Law in 1986.  Without a doubt, the O’Briens would prove themselves a true Fordham family, with dozens of other relatives with Rose Hill ties as well — not the least of whom was Cousin Joe, otherwise known as Fr. Joseph O’Hare, SJ, president of Fordham University from 1984-2003.

Starting his career as an associate attorney with a New York-based law office, Edward joined the legal department of Bache & Co., a securities firm in 1955.  Two decades later, he was a general partner overseeing various departments of the brokerage, including national and international sales.  In 1974, O’Brien became the president and chief executive office of the Securities Industry Association, representing the financial services industry before Congress.  After his tenure with the SIA, Ed would hold a number of corporate directorships with various investment management firms including Legg Mason, Neuberger & Berman, the Boston Financial Group and the Edward Jones Company.  He retired in 2014.

Of course, the devout and pious boy who had been so giving of his energy in high school did not cease being so upon receiving his Prep diploma.  In fact, generosity was a quality Edward Ignatius O’Brien exhibited his whole life, lending his support, time and talent to many institutions along the way. 

In the early 1970s, he chaired the Cardinal’s Committee of the Laity, (today, Catholic Charities) and served on Fordham University’s President’s Council.  And from 1975 through 1978, Ed served as chairman of the Fordham Prep Board of Trustees.  He was very involved with the restructuring of the school’s finances during those difficult years following the legal separation of the Prep and University, and like fellow Hall of Honor inductees Josephine and Robert Abplanalp ’39, Gerald McNamara ‘41 and the former governor of New York, Malcolm Wilson ’29, O’Brien will always be remembered in school history as one of the individuals whose efforts helped to secure the Prep nothing short of a future.  And for this, Fordham Prep will always be grateful.

Ed and Margaret were longtime residents of Scarsdale, New York.  and attendees of the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, where they were cherished by their neighbors and fellow parishioners as venerable and magnanimous members of the community.

Edward Ignatius O'Brien passed away at home on November 8, 2021.  He was surrounded by his family