William Stanley O'Brien Jr.

William Stanley “Bill” O’Brien, Jr. passed away peacefully, holding hands with his wife and partner of 43 years, after a brief battle with bladder cancer, on Sunday, March 6, 2022. He was 68 years old, a resident of Anaheim for over 20 years, and of Orange County for over 50 years. Bill was the 1st of 7 children born to William Stanley O’Brien, Sr. and Joan Carol (Nemec) O’Brien in Columbus, Ohio, on May 29, 1953. From Ohio, the family moved to Santa Maria, California in 1959 so that Bill, Sr. could work at Vandenberg Air Force Base as an aerospace engineer during various phases of the U. S. Space Program. In 1963 the family moved south to La Habra, California and Bill graduated from La Habra High School in 1971, where he competed on the Debate Team. He then attended California State University at Fullerton where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Communications. Bill was also active with the student radio station, KBPK, at Fullerton College as he was a lifelong music lover. Bill worked for 15 years for Stoody Company in the City of Industry until the company moved to Kentucky. At Stoody, Bill was very involved in his union, serving as a shop steward and on the labor side of the contract negotiation team. Here he earned the admiration and respect of both the management and union negotiators, as well as rank and file union members, for his calm demeanor, fairness, and level headedness. After Stoody Company left Southern California, Bill was employed as a technician in the Workers Compensation Insurance field for State Compensation Insurance Fund at their offices in Los Angeles and Santa Ana where he received awards for his work and from which he eventually retired in 2018 after 26 years of service. Bill met his wife, Marguerite Milligan, at the La Habra Drive-In Theater where they both worked, in 1974. They had a son, Cameron Milligan O’Brien, and Bill enjoyed participating with Cameron in Cub Scouts and then in Boy Scout Troop 93 in Fullerton and was a very proud Eagle Scout Dad. Bill was a fan of both Angels and Dodgers baseball, comic books, and classic rock, especially The Beatles, The Byrds and The Beach Boys. In the 1980’s Bill was president of West Coast Comic Club and was a member of the security crew during a few of the earlier years of the San Diego Comic Con. Bill is survived by his wife, Marguerite, his son, Cameron, his brothers Dennis (Anne), Mike, Kevin (Cathy) and Jon, and his sister Kathy (Mike) Horgan as well as over two dozen nieces and nephews. Bill was preceded in death by his parents, Bill, Sr. and Joan O’Brien, and his sister, Mary. His kind smile, soothing, deep voice, encyclopedic knowledge of classic rock, and gentle sense of humor will be fondly remembered and deeply missed by his large and loving family. A Celebration of Life will take place this fall. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you perform an act of kindness and/or donate to a good cause to help others such as a food bank, Red Cross, Cancer research, foster care support, or Ukrainian Relief, in Bill’s memory.