Griffin F. O'Brien

Griffin O'Brien of Winnetka, IL, passed away unexpectedly on July 11, 2012. He was 22 and the beloved son of Happy and Chris O'Brien, cherished brother of Mike (Jessica Mundo) and Tyler (Josh Mitchell), and grandson of Kitt and Bill O'Brien. He is also survived by numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Griff was a senior at Emerson College in Boston and was a 2009 graduate of New Trier East High School in Winnetka. He was a long time student and participant with The Second City Comedy Club in Chicago. Jeff Gandy, Youth Programs Director of Second City, said, "Our whole Second City community is feeling the loss of this promising young talent. I was always impressed with his witty sense of humor and inspired by his unselfish commitment to all of his projects." Griffin also interned at The Colbert Report television show.

As a young comedian, Griff's star was on the rise. Most recently, he was nominated as MVP of the TBS National College Comedy Competition as a member of the winning Emerson College comedy team. The winners performed in Chicago in the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival Showcase. While at Emerson, Griff was a 3-year member and head writer of Jimmy's Traveling All Stars, a sketch comedy troupe, which he loved. His good friends at Emerson, Patrick McDonald and Gemma Simko, described him best, "We all wrote our sketches with Griff in mind. If he was in your sketch, he WAS the sketch. He had so much love for everything and everyone. You couldn’t spend more than five minutes with him without laughing." Griff had many roles: a son, a brother, a grandson, a nephew, a cousin and friend, but he will be remembered most for always being "the funniest guy in the room." He will be missed by everyone who ever met him.

A celebration of Griff's life will occur on Friday, July 20th from 6:00pm to 10:00pm at Marcello's Restaurant, 1911 Cherry Lane, Northbrook, IL. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to the Griffin O'Brien Scholarship, Emerson College Office of Development, 120 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116.