Patrick James O’Brien

March 17, 1992 - November

24, 2020. WASHINGTON, Conn. – Patrick James O’Brien, of Washington, CT, passed away suddenly on Nov. 24, 2020, at the age of 28.

Patrick was born on March

17, 1992 to Elizabeth McKee and James O’Brien. He graduated from Shepaug Valley High School where he was an excellent student and star athlete.

Patrick graduated from UConn with a B.S. in conservation of natural resources and later from CCSU with an M.S. in biology. His work on occupancy modeling of the American Marten was published in the Small Carnivore Conservation Journal.

Patrick joined the USDA Wildlife Services New York in

2019 as a biologist. Before that he worked for DEEP and Westchester County Parks as a wildlife technician.

His love of nature and the outdoors extended to his hobbies of fishing, camping, hiking, boating on Candlewood Lake, skiing and making fun of people who could not start a fire.

Patrick will be remembered for his legendary sense of humor, his kind heart and the unparalleled enthusiasm that he brought to everything he did.

A celebration of Patrick’s remarkable life will be take place outdoors at the Congregational Church of Brookfield on Saturday, Dec. 19, at 2 p.m. Please visit this link for details and to RSVP: https:// www.signupgenius.com/ go/5080c4ca8af28a4f94-celebration.

In lieu of flowers and in honor of Patrick’s commitment to environmental science, please consider making a donation to the Washington Environmental Council’s Patrick O’Brien Scholarship Fund (wec-ct.org).

Patrick is survived by his parents; his sister Becki, brotherin-law Byron, and nephew Noah; grandmother, Theresa; aunts Gloria McKee, Kate Pierpaoli (Joe) and Patricia O’Brien; and uncles James McKee, Kenneth O’Brien (Diana), many beloved cousins, friends, esteemed colleagues and his badly behaved dog, Mingus.