Name: Calling hours for Philip J. O'Connor
Start: 2022-09-11T18:00:00.000Z
End: 2022-09-11T20:00:00.000Z
Location: Molloy Funeral Home - West Hartford

Philip J. O'Connor, entered the great courtroom in the sky on September 3, 2022. Phil was born in Hartford in 1949 to loving parents Joseph and Marion (Stafford) O'Connor. Over the years, he lived in Wethersfield, Stamford, Rocky Hill, Middle- town, Cromwell, Berlin and Hartford, a true Connecticutian. He graduated from Rocky Hill High School, 1967, John Hopkins University, 1971, and the University of Connecticut School of Law, 1976. He also studied at Trinity College in Hartford. He was the grandnephew of Dennis P. O'Connor, former Mayor of Hartford. He was also an eighth cousin a football greats Peyton and Eli Manning, as well as Watergate heroes Archibald Cox and Elliot Richardson, and probably a lot of other people. Phil was proud of his service in the United States Army, where he was assigned to the organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with the duties involving command and control of strategic nuclear weapons. He liked to say that he played a small role in preventing World War III. When Brezhnev heard that O'Connor was on the case he told his generals, "don't mess with him, he's crazy." Then it was on to UConn Law School and a few years with the Connecticut General Assembly's Office of Legislative Research, where he met many wonderful people. It was also his first exposure to bare-knuckle politics, which persuaded him to enter the private sector. He began as an associate at the Hartford law firm of Gordon, Muir and Foley in 1979, became a partner, and remained there until his death. Serendipitously, the firm moved from Hartford to Phil's old hometown, Rocky Hill, in 2017. Being in the legal profession entailed an endless stream of interesting people, adversaries, colleagues, and co-counsels, judges, witnesses, experts, and clients. Too numerous to list. So, thank you all! Phil was a music nut, everything from Chopin to Black Sabbath and all points in between. Phil and his first wife, Jane actually heard the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra perform Bruckner's Eighth Symphony in Vienna. Before that, Muddy Waters at Shaboo, Woodstock, Newport Gathering of the Vibes, Wormtown, and many other festivals. Lots of fun with wife number two, Cathie: Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, Bowie, Kid Creole, et al. Surviving Phil – at least in the physical sense, is his loving wife Catherine, sometimes known as "hey blondie", all of her good folks from Tennessee, his beloved sister, Elaine, and brother-in-law Bob Morrell of Tijeras, New Mexico, and their four sons, Steve, Matt, Joe, and Rob and their spouses and children. Remember him occasionally. If you would like, donations in his name may be made to The Leukemia And Lymphoma Society or to the American Red Cross, where Phil donated countless pints of blood! A celebration of life will take place on Sunday, September 11, 2022, at 4:00 p.m. at the Molloy funeral home, 906 Farmington Ave., West Hartford. Calling hours will take place prior to the service from 2 to 4 p.m. Interment and a graveside service will be held on Thursday, September 15, 2022, 3:00 pm in Rose Hill Memorial Park, 580 Elm St., Rocky Hill. Directions, and online expressions of sympathy may be made at www.molloyfuneralhome.com.

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Published by Hartford Courant on Sep. 8, 2022.

Memories and Condolences
for Philip O'Connor

Sponsored by the family.

4 Entries

Bruce Spera

September 15, 2022

Cathie.....Be strong and Teresa and I are so very, very sorry. Call us for anything. God bless...Bruce

Bruce Spera

September 12, 2022

When God produces a uniquely talented, extremely intelligent person and gives him a beautiful smile but then also bestows on him a devilishly wicked and cutting sense of humor...well then you have rare combination. You have a very special person. One whose light can shine down to others. And those lucky enough to receive that light find not just a temporary flame, but more so a light that will never expire, a light that will never need tending. Also a light that actually both illuminates and guides. One that I´m sure has shone for his sister Elaine and her entire family. And going way back in time, I know it shined to all the kids that got to know him in Mr. Arsenault´s 6th grade class at the Myrtle H. Stevens school. As well as those he met at Rocky Hill Junior/Senior High school. And I´m sure the many friends at John Hopkins and the University of Connecticut Law school. I´ll bet you that light can be spotted every so often peeking and sliding around the corridors and up in the crevices of the dome in the Hartford Capital building where he worked. And just ask the attorneys at Gordon, Muir and Foley..I´m sure they´ll all agree. All of those people Phil are the recipients of that great warmth, that wonderful generosity and that devilish sense of humor of yours. They all carry that with them. And in that magical way...you live forever. I too have been a long-time recipient of that light and those gifts. All the way back when I first met in that 6th grade class when our enormous blackboard was bordered by two huge political posters for the upcoming presidential election. On the left, or `sinister´ side, was Richard Milhous Nixon and the other, or `right side, was a fellow Irishman and your favorite John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Do you remember 1964 and 1965, before we´d gotten our driver´s licenses? We´d sit for hours in your house up on that hill and look down and out your huge windows onto the rural landscape of thick tree covered hills of Rocky Hill. Of course that was long before that town got "urbanized, plasticized and condominium-sized." We´d sit there staring while arguing over politics and fuming over the enormous buildup in Vietnam, while blaming all on L.B.J. and the C.I.A., and still mourning (while beginning to understand who was probably responsible for) the murder of J.F.K. And through all these moments, in the background, on your stereo playing very loudly was one of the first three albums of The Rolling Stones. ( Your favorite was the second-The Rolling Stones Now....and you thought Bill Wyman was "so cool" ). Come to think of it there was always something on the stereo. We also listened to Dylan, Miles, The Animals, The Kinks and Motown. I don´t know how your mom Marion put up with us? Maybe earplugs? Do you remember one week discussing Albert´s Theory of Relativity? What were we 15 ? Then you followed that up with a dissection of Dylan´s " Ballad of a Thin Man"....you know... do you...Mr. Jones. Then you presented your ideas of what Bob meant to our English teacher as an assignment! You were truly a beacon for me back then and one of the best and certainly most trustworthy friend I ever had in high school. Now correct me if I´m wrong but an old friend of both of us Philip Johnson recently told me a story about he, you and Rich Martin Bedard. You all needed a ton a liquor and beer and wine for the upcoming high school graduation party at the house of Jesse Meisterling. So to get it you had to drive across the state line to New York where you completely stuffed Rich´s huge trunk with booze. Now on the way back you were stopped by a State Police Car. And, let me get this right....you told the officer that all three of you got rejected by your three respective New York girlfriends!!!! And he bought it? And he never searched the vehicle?? Ah, I´m sorry but your "light" did not shine very brightly that night on that cop!! So in college we went in different directions..you south to Baltimore and I up to UCONN. Then after we graduated as luck would have it, you came to UCONN for law school and I traveled to Southern California for eye school. You did come to spend a week with me in 1981 in Laguna Beach. We spent most of that time on my deck drinking cocktails and watching the whales migrating south to the tip of Baja. But then your discussions centered mainly around Perry Mason and such. Of course the stereo still played The Rolling Stones but now it was Emotional Rescue?? Now that brings me to the two years where we´ve talked quite a bit..almost constantly. You helped and guided me with the two " L " Societies. And I took a break from my weekly treatments this June to fly out and introduce my wife to you and for both of us to meet Cathie. And we had that three hour dinner at Flora. So my friend be nothing but joyous. Be everything in the knowledge that your light and life is carried by so many...that your warmth generosity and spirit lives in all of us. And especially that humor..example.. It´s 9:15 PM on Saturday June 18, 2022 and the four of us are coming down the elevator at the restaurant to the ground floor entrance. We step outside...and into a pouring rainstorm. One where torrential sheets of silver rain came straight down so hard they bounced three feet straight up off the sidewalk. We all just stood there getting drenched. I yelled plaintively; " I just don´t want to go..." and Phil crooked a finger at me. I lifted my chin in a question and got a nose full of silver wetness for my effort. He beckoned me closer and then with a wicked grin put his face to my right ear and said with acid sweetness; " You know something..and this is very funny..you are much better looking in the pouring rain. Bearable even!!" I somehow guided my wife across the river that before was Raymond street and up and into the dry car. I went around to the driver´s door but just stood there with silver cascading all around me. I looked back across the river and saw in silver silhouettes Cathie and Phil moving slowly from left to right until they turned the building´s corner and seem to dissolve in the lonely silver rain. God bless you my friend. Bruce Spera

Howie Charbonneau

September 9, 2022

Rest in peace Phil. Remembering all the great times in high school and beyond. The Farm, New Road, visits at John Hopkins, tricycle races and, of course, the fastest beer cooler in the East.