One-time state attorney general candidate dies at 83

DANVILLE -- Charles O'Brien, the 1970 Democratic candidate for state attorney general who narrowly lost to Evelle Younger, died Sept. 3 at his Danville home. He was 83.

O'Brien was born Sept. 1, 1925 in Lawrence, Mass. He enlisted in the Army at 17, serving as an infantry machine gunner in World War II, where he earned a Purple Heart. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was part of the effort to liberate Nazi concentration camps, said his son, Brennan O'Brien of Walnut Creek.

After the war, O'Brien received his law degree from Harvard University and began practicing law in San Francisco. He worked as a defense attorney at first, but "switched sides" to become a prosecutor after a particularly troubling case. According to his son, O'Brien successfully defended a man who had gotten drunk and hit a woman with a car, breaking both of her legs. "It was because the other lawyer was completely incompetent that my dad was able to get (the driver) completely off. After that, he said, 'I'm not doing defense anymore,' " Brennan O'Brien said.

Charles O'Brien joined the attorney general's office in 1959 and stayed through 1970, leaving for brief stints to serve as executive secretary to Gov. Pat Brown in 1960 and to help with Attorney General Stanley Mosk's campaign for re-election in 1962. He served as second in command at the attorney general's office under Mosk and his successor, Thomas Lynch.

In 1970, O'Brien was the Democratic candidate

to succeed Lynch. A central campaign issue was how best to deal with student unrest over the Vietnam War, Brennan O'Brien said. "My dad's position was that we need to show (protesters) that they have a place at the table, that the system is capable of addressing their concerns if they come to the table," he said.

Charles O'Brien and Younger also disagreed on policies regarding the mafia. There was widespread concern at the time that East Coast gangsters might expand their influence to the West Coast, a worry O'Brien shared and sought to address via state law enforcement.

Younger argued that the attorney general's office was wasting muscle power fighting an unfounded concern, Brennan O'Brien said.

Brennan O'Brien, who at the time was a student at Green Valley Elementary School in Danville, recalls how, during the campaign, the media and Secret Service descended on the then-rural San Ramon Valley. Security guards escorted him and his siblings to school.

"It was very surreal to see reporters surrounding my dad, just this regular guy," he said.

Charles O'Brien lost the election by 86,000 votes out of more than 6.2 million votes cast.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Marie Theresa Fox; his children: Brennan O'Brien, Devin O'Brien of Moraga and Erin O'Brien of San Jose; and nine grandchildren.

Funeral services were held Monday.

Memorial donations can be made to Community Solutions, a nonprofit human services organization run by Erin O'Brien, at P.O. Box 546, Morgan Hill, CA 95038.

Reach Jeanine Benca at 925-847.2125 or jbenca@bayareanewsgroup.com.