Paul J. "Jerry" O'Brien, 68, Salt Lake City, community leader and publisher of the Salt Lake Tribune since 1984, died Tuesday, Feb. 15, 1994, at LDS Hospital after a long illness.
He joined Kearns-Tribune Corp. in 1963 after 15 years in newspaper and wire service work, including chief for four years of The Associated Press Intermountain Bureau in Salt Lake City.Jack Gallivan, publisher emeritus of the Salt Lake Tribune and chairman of the board of Kearns-Tribune Corp., said, "In the death of Jerry O'Brien, Utah has lost a loving and dedicated servant; journalism a champion of the truth; and legions across the nation an irreplaceable friend."
Mr. O'Brien is a native of Spokane, Wash., and graduated from Gonzaga University where he later served on the Board of Regents.
He was an officer, founding director and member of the Tele-Communications Inc. Executive Committee, Telemation and National Telefilm Associates, Inc.; an officer and director of Republic Pictures, a motion picture and TV production company; and officer and director of Kearns-Tribune Corp.
Mr. O'Brien was honored in 1991 by the Utah Press Association for his work on a Utah Newspaper Hall of Fame exhibit in the state Capitol and was a member of the association's board from 1991 to 1994. He will be honored with the Master Editor and Publisher Award, the association's highest honor, at the association's midwinter convention Feb. 24-26.
In May 1989 he received the University of Utah department of communication's Service to Journalism Award for contributions to journalism in the Salt Lake area. He was named in 1990 to an advisory group for "Utahns for Nonprofit Hospitals," an advocacy group to champion the cause of Utah's nonprofit hospitals. In June 1991 he was appointed to the same group's Blue Ribbon Committee on health care costs.
In 1986 he was named to the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau Board.
He was on the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors and served on the boards of Holy Cross Hospital, the Salt Lake YMCA, the Guadalupe Center, the Utah Affiliate of the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness, the Utah Heart Association, as well as the board of the Utah Symphony.
He also was co-chairman of the Utah Chapter, National Conference of Christians and Jews and served on the Utah Industrial Relations Council.
Mr. O'Brien served for several years on a Zions First National Bank advisory board that sought nominations for an Up'n Comers Award dinner, a statewide public service program designed to honor Utah's young professionals whose career achievements and community involvement are recognized by peers and competitors.
Funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Cathedral of the Madeleine, 331 E. South Temple. Committal will be at Mount Olivet Cemetery, 1342 E. 500 South following the funeral Mass.