| William O'Brien | |
|---|---|
| 11th Minnesota State Auditor | |
| In office March 7, 1969 –January 4, 1971 | |
| Preceded by | Stafford King |
| Succeeded by | Rolland Hatfield |
| Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives for the 45th District | |
| In office January 8, 1963 –January 2, 1967 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 19, 1930 Jacksonville, Florida |
| Died | June 25, 2007 Duluth, MN |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Patty (divorced) Sandra |
| Children | Katherine, Alice, Julia, and Deborah (daughters); Elizabeth (stepdaughter) |
| Residence | Duluth, Minnesota |
| Alma mater | University of Minnesota |
| Profession | Investment Counselor |
William J. "Bill" O'Brien (February 19, 1930 in Jacksonville, Florida – June 25, 2007) was a Minnesota Republican politician, who served as Minnesota State Auditor and a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. O'Brien also unsuccessfully sought the office of Minnesota Secretary of State.
Jacksonville is the most populous city in Florida, the most populous city in the southeastern United States and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968. Consolidation gave Jacksonville its great size and placed most of its metropolitan population within the city limits. As of 2017 Jacksonville's population was estimated to be 892,062. The Jacksonville metropolitan area has a population of 1,523,615 and is the fourth largest in Florida.
Minnesota is a state in the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes, and northern regions of the United States. Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U.S. state on May 11, 1858, created from the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory. The state has a large number of lakes, and is known by the slogan the "Land of 10,000 Lakes". Its official motto is L'Étoile du Nord.
The Republican Party of Minnesota is a conservative political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is affiliated with the United States Republican Party.
Born in Jacksonville, Florida, O'Brien moved to Minnesota in his youth. He graduated from St. Paul Academy, and went on to college at Cornell University, where he studied mechanical engineering. He returned to Minnesota to complete his education, earning a degree in finance. He later worked as an investment counselor.
Cornell University is a private and statutory Ivy League research university in Ithaca, New York. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, the university was intended to teach and make contributions in all fields of knowledge—from the classics to the sciences, and from the theoretical to the applied. These ideals, unconventional for the time, are captured in Cornell's founding principle, a popular 1868 Ezra Cornell quotation: "I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study."
Mechanical engineering is the discipline that applies engineering, physics, engineering mathematics, and materials science principles to design, analyze, manufacture, and maintain mechanical systems. It is one of the oldest and broadest of the engineering disciplines.
O'Brien was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1962, and again in 1964. In 1969, he was appointed to the office of Minnesota State Auditor by Gov. Harold LeVander.
The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, exactly twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint Paul. Offices for members and staff, as well as most committee hearings, are located in the nearby State Office Building.
The Minnesota State Auditor is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the U.S. State of Minnesota. The State Auditor is charged with overseeing more than $20 billion spent annually by local governments in Minnesota. The State Auditor does this by performing audits of local government financial statements and by reviewing documents, data, reports and complaints reported to the Office. The financial information collected is analyzed and serves as the basis of statutory reports issued by the Office of the State Auditor. The State Auditor is elected and serves a four-year term.
O'Brien had four daughters and one stepdaughter; he was married twice. He died in 2007. [1]
