planetf1.com

Always enjoyed his insight. Very sorry to hear of his passing and my condolences to you

This news has saddened & impacted on me greatly.
We had a bereavement in the family just over a week ago but this has affected just as much.
Pat & I had I had become quite friendly & mailed each other often.

We spoke a lot about his visit to Ireland & how he had driven around the old Gordon Benet Trophy roads.
It was his wish to come back again & drive around it together.

I will miss him greatly as he was of an age with me & we shared some truly enjoyable banter here & other places.

He & I had become good friends communicating on a regular basis.
He was a true gentleman with a huge knowledge of F1 & a great raconteur with some wonderful stories to relate.

I will miss him very badly as we were of an age & started following F1 at the same time in 1950.

Herb wrote:Whether you agreed with him or not, I think there are few members of the forum so universally respected.

My thoughts too. Patrick will be missed by all.

Respects go to his family.

RIP POB.

Very sad news indeed. My condolences for your families loss.

Terribly sad news.

While I respect most forumers here, POB was one who's posts became almost compulsory reading for me.

His knowledge, his wonderful anecdotes and his statistical contributions will be sadly missed.

To Catherine. If you dad conducted himself in his day to day life as he conducted himself in this forum, then you were blessed with a great father. Rest assured he will be very sadly missed on this site and will be remembered here for a long time to come for all the right reasons.

Condolences to family and friends.
R.I.P. Patrick.

I can only say R.I.P Patrick. I truly enjoyed the little moments of discussion we had in this forum. His insight and perspective to the sport was unsurpassed. He will be dearly missed.

My condolences.

Sorry to hear POB ratings. Our thoughts are with you and your family.

Terrible news.

Thoughts are with Patrick's family, he was truly a valued member of this forum.

So sad to hear.

RIP POB

Always interesting to read his posts and the numerical driver comparisons. Sad news indeed. My condolences to his family.

I wish to extend my sincere condolences to Patrick's family and loved ones. His passing will leave a huge hole that IMO cannot be replaced. This is truly a sad day.

Hello everyone, my name is Brendan O’Brien – I’m Patrick’s son.

Our family’s grief since he died on Friday morning has been almost unbearable. I wanted to take the time to post though because, although my dad had many and varied interests and a wide group of friends across the world, F1 was his passion and this forum – and his many virtual friends on it - was an important part of that.

My dad took me to a number of Grands Prix in our native South Africa when I was a kid, showing me around the pits and once - in the early years, must’ve been around the late-70s - putting his hands over my ears when the noise of the cars going by on the straight startled me and made me cry. Despite thoroughly enjoying the experiences, though, I never really picked up his passion for F1 to the same extent. Rather, we had a shared passion for sports cars – his knowledge about their design and history was almost as vast as his knowledge about F1. Some of my happiest memories are of weekends spent with him in the garage at home in Johannesburg helping him to restore his two beloved Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciales.

This is difficult to write. I keep cracking up.

He reminded me just a few weeks ago about how I had dragged him, ‘kicking and screaming’ (his words), onto the Planet F1 Forum back in 2011. Being of an earlier generation, and never a man with much patience for computers, it was an initial challenge to get him comfortable with the technicalities of posting and forum usage. I was determined that he should do this though - living in rural France, he needed an outlet for his F1 passion and you, the members of the PF1 Forum, provided that.

Most of you will be aware of the Ratings System that he had developed. He achieved so much in life, but the Ratings System was really his life’s major work and the culmination of everything he knew about F1. My sister, Catherine, spent countless hours with him over the past 3 or 4 years to help him formalize the work into book form. He really valued the input and knowledge of so many forum members in discussing his work and testing his conclusions. I also know that he regarded and valued a number of forum members as genuine friends, although he never met any of you.

I am struggling to rationalize his death. He was active and fit, and living life as fully and with as much passion as ever. He was only 72, and had so much more to give. The best I can do is that his family and friends were lucky to have had him in their lives for the period that they did. He was the most thoroughly decent and kind man, and his empathy for all living things – whether human, animal or plant – was on an otherworldly level. Everything that is good in me, I learnt from him.

I moved out of home to go to university when I was 18. This was followed by various moves to countries overseas over the years, which meant that we typically only saw each other annually. In May 2016, however, I was able to fly him over from France to my home in Canada for a dream road trip for both of us. I fulfilled a long-held wish a few years ago of becoming a Porsche 911 owner, and my dad came over for a 4-day road trip with 10 Porsche friends of mine through the forested and winding roads of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia. The driving pace was at times spirited, and my dad said he could still hear the wonderful sound of flat 6s echoing in his mind for months after the trip. He seat-hopped from car-to-car through the trip, getting to know the others and sampling different flavours of Porsche. As was Dad’s way, in the short time he knew the others on the trip, he made an impact with his kindness, his humour, and his genuine interest in others’ lives. On the last day of the trip, which fell on his 72nd birthday, he and I peeled off from the group and made a special journey to Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, Fallingwater, in southern Pennsylvania. One of his other passions (and, in fact, his profession) was architecture, and Fallingwater had been an icon to him since his student days. The in-depth house tour was a spiritual experience for him, and I am grateful we got to do the trip together.

He travelled over to Canada again in September 2016 with my mother to meet his first grandchild, my son, who was born in August. That was the last time I saw him. I had booked for him to come over for another Porsche road trip in May 2017. He was so excited about this and about meeting all of his Porsche friends from last year again.

I’ve written more than intended, and it’s all been done in the midst of a grief I’ve never before experienced and which feels as though it will never end. However, I do want to thank you, his PF1 forum friends, for your engagement with him and for the knowledgeable outlet that you provided. It was important to him and he really appreciated it.


EDIT: Photobucket has since removed the Fallingwater picture below; it can be seen on POB's blog:
http://grandprixratings.blogspot.co.uk/ ... -2017.html

POBRatings wrote:Hello everyone, my name is Brendan O’Brien – I’m Patrick’s son.

Our family’s grief since he died on Friday morning has been almost unbearable. I wanted to take the time to post though because, although my dad had many and varied interests and a wide group of friends across the world, F1 was his passion and this forum – and his many virtual friends on it - was an important part of that.

My dad took me to a number of Grands Prix in our native South Africa when I was a kid, showing me around the pits and once - in the early years, must’ve been around the late-70s - putting his hands over my ears when the noise of the cars going by on the straight startled me and made me cry. Despite thoroughly enjoying the experiences, though, I never really picked up his passion for F1 to the same extent. Rather, we had a shared passion for sports cars – his knowledge about their design and history was almost as vast as his knowledge about F1. Some of my happiest memories are of weekends spent with him in the garage at home in Johannesburg helping him to restore his two beloved Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciales.

This is difficult to write. I keep cracking up.

He reminded me just a few weeks ago about how I had dragged him, ‘kicking and screaming’ (his words), onto the Planet F1 Forum back in 2011. Being of an earlier generation, and never a man with much patience for computers, it was an initial challenge to get him comfortable with the technicalities of posting and forum usage. I was determined that he should do this though - living in rural France, he needed an outlet for his F1 passion and you, the members of the PF1 Forum, provided that.

Most of you will be aware of the Ratings System that he had developed. He achieved so much in life, but the Ratings System was really his life’s major work and the culmination of everything he knew about F1. My sister, Catherine, spent countless hours with him over the past 3 or 4 years to help him formalize the work into book form. He really valued the input and knowledge of so many forum members in discussing his work and testing his conclusions. I also know that he regarded and valued a number of forum members as genuine friends, although he never met any of you.

I am struggling to rationalize his death. He was active and fit, and living life as fully and with as much passion as ever. He was only 72, and had so much more to give. The best I can do is that his family and friends were lucky to have had him in their lives for the period that they did. He was the most thoroughly decent and kind man, and his empathy for all living things – whether human, animal or plant – was on an otherworldly level. Everything that is good in me, I learnt from him.

I moved out of home to go to university when I was 18. This was followed by various moves to countries overseas over the years, which meant that we typically only saw each other annually. In May 2016, however, I was able to fly him over from France to my home in Canada for a dream road trip for both of us. I fulfilled a long-held wish a few years ago of becoming a Porsche 911 owner, and my dad came over for a 4-day road trip with 10 Porsche friends of mine through the forested and winding roads of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia. The driving pace was at times spirited, and my dad said he could still hear the wonderful sound of flat 6s echoing in his mind for months after the trip. He seat-hopped from car-to-car through the trip, getting to know the others and sampling different flavours of Porsche. As was Dad’s way, in the short time he knew the others on the trip, he made an impact with his kindness, his humour, and his genuine interest in others’ lives. On the last day of the trip, which fell on his 72nd birthday, he and I peeled off from the group and made a special journey to Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, Fallingwater, in southern Pennsylvania. One of his other passions (and, in fact, his profession) was architecture, and Fallingwater had been an icon to him since his student days. The in-depth house tour was a spiritual experience for him, and I am grateful we got to do the trip together.

He travelled over to Canada again in September 2016 with my mother to meet his first grandchild, my son, who was born in August. That was the last time I saw him. I had booked for him to come over for another Porsche road trip in May 2017. He was so excited about this and about meeting all of his Porsche friends from last year again.

I’ve written more than intended, and it’s all been done in the midst of a grief I’ve never before experienced and which feels as though it will never end. However, I do want to thank you, his PF1 forum friends, for your engagement with him and for the knowledgeable outlet that you provided. It was important to him and he really appreciated it.

A wonderful post. Thank you for sharing.

My heart goes out to you, Brendan, and your sister. I love the picture of your Dad at Fallingwater, it perfectly respresents your father as I envisioned him.

My heart is very heavy today with the lose of your father, and then just last night, my best friend of 50 years passed away. May the Lord help ease your grief and give you strength.

Thank you and your sister for sharing with us, I know it cannot have been easy. Know my prayers are with you.

It's nice to hear you had that time together last May Brendan and that's a great picture. Sounds like a great trip.

Sorry to hear about your friend Blake, tough times but keep your chin up mate. Hopefully Ferrari can give you something to cheer about next weekend.

Brendan, Catherine,

First, my apologies that it took me two days to see this thread, and my deepest condolances to you and others affected by the loss of your father.

Secondly, thank you for informing us. As said about 50 times already, Patrick was probably the most respected user of this forum, certainly since I took over as mod and probably since before I signed up. He will be missed, and this forum will be poorer for his absence. I often find myself distracted from work by one of his many anecdotes, invariably amusing and informative. I encourage anyone who hasn't read them to take the time, search his posts and have a read. F1 was a different beast back in the day and he captured its soul beautifully.

One of our old members, Gaia, posted a very simple image of a flag with the PF1 logo photoshopped onto it, flying at half mast in 2009, the last time we lost a universally respected member. I only wish I could post that now for Patrick. I feel I should say more but I don't have the words.

Not a frequent poster, but I enjoyed your fathers contributions. His ratings were as good a stab as anyone has made at trying to make sense of F1 seasons, and added an objective layer of debate.

I will miss his posts.

Jezza13 wrote:Terribly sad news.

While I respect most forumers here, POB was one who's posts became almost compulsory reading for me.

His knowledge, his wonderful anecdotes and his statistical contributions will be sadly missed.

To Catherine. If you dad conducted himself in his day to day life as he conducted himself in this forum, then you were blessed with a great father. Rest assured he will be very sadly missed on this site and will be remembered here for a long time to come for all the right reasons.

Many thanks, Jezza13. It is exactly as you say: we were truly lucky to have him as a father.
Best wishes to you,
Catherine

POBRatings wrote:

Hi Brendan, those are beautiful memories you shared of your father, and may I say, your writing reminds me of his - simple and yet evocative, calm and reflective. I'm a 99% lurker in the forum, but have been around long enough to see the personalities of the most frequent posters, and like many here, looked forward to every one of your father's posts. His opinions were always well considered, and on the rare occasion that he disagreed with someone, did so with utmost grace, courtesy and generosity. He must have been a joy to be around in person!
I too lost my father when he was young, and also to a sudden heart attack. It will be ten years this June, but some things still remain fresh. Cherish the times you had, and let this bring your family closer. My prayers are with you and your family.

To Catherine, Brendan and all your family and friends,

My deepest condolences for your loss. I haven't posted for a long while, but anytime I saw a contribution by your father it was fascinating reading. I would trawl through the posts for hours to gain just another snippet from such a fountain of knowledge. Although his passing will be keenly felt by the members of this forum, his presence and legacy shall never wain.

Thank you Patrick.

RIP Patrick
You will be missed
My sincere condolences to the family
Truly moved by his picture and the post accompanying it from Brendan

I've only read this just now... Don't really know what to say.

Catherine, Brendan, first and foremost my deepest condolences for the loss of your father. As many are sharing, the anecdotes and insight offered by your father on this forum were second to none. It seemed like he had spoken to just about every F1 driver of the olden days, be it in person or by mail, and in these days such a thing is hard to imagine. His rating system was very interesting, it brought some kind of consistent view of F1 throughout the decades and offered me a lot of insight.
I remember one discussion on this forum where he said he hadn't found a satisfactory term for the "car and driver combination" - I proposed the term package which I think he used ever since. It was just a small personal connection of which I'm sure many forum members have with a man as kind as Patrick.

One more thing, I would like to thank you very much for letting us know. While the news itself is deeply saddening, the idea of never to have known what had happened to such a valued member of this forum is even more unbearable.

Thank you, thank you Patrick. You will be missed.

Wow, wasn't expecting this on a Monday morning.

My deepest condolences to Patrick's family. I thoroughly enjoyed reading his posts and was almost envious of the depth of his knowledge, particularly his first-hand experiences. We are all lucky that he shared his stories with us.

POBRatings wrote:Hello everyone, my name is Brendan O’Brien – I’m Patrick’s son.

Our family’s grief since he died on Friday morning has been almost unbearable. I wanted to take the time to post though because, although my dad had many and varied interests and a wide group of friends across the world, F1 was his passion and this forum – and his many virtual friends on it - was an important part of that.

My dad took me to a number of Grands Prix in our native South Africa when I was a kid, showing me around the pits and once - in the early years, must’ve been around the late-70s - putting his hands over my ears when the noise of the cars going by on the straight startled me and made me cry. Despite thoroughly enjoying the experiences, though, I never really picked up his passion for F1 to the same extent. Rather, we had a shared passion for sports cars – his knowledge about their design and history was almost as vast as his knowledge about F1. Some of my happiest memories are of weekends spent with him in the garage at home in Johannesburg helping him to restore his two beloved Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciales.

This is difficult to write. I keep cracking up.

He reminded me just a few weeks ago about how I had dragged him, ‘kicking and screaming’ (his words), onto the Planet F1 Forum back in 2011. Being of an earlier generation, and never a man with much patience for computers, it was an initial challenge to get him comfortable with the technicalities of posting and forum usage. I was determined that he should do this though - living in rural France, he needed an outlet for his F1 passion and you, the members of the PF1 Forum, provided that.

Most of you will be aware of the Ratings System that he had developed. He achieved so much in life, but the Ratings System was really his life’s major work and the culmination of everything he knew about F1. My sister, Catherine, spent countless hours with him over the past 3 or 4 years to help him formalize the work into book form. He really valued the input and knowledge of so many forum members in discussing his work and testing his conclusions. I also know that he regarded and valued a number of forum members as genuine friends, although he never met any of you.

I am struggling to rationalize his death. He was active and fit, and living life as fully and with as much passion as ever. He was only 72, and had so much more to give. The best I can do is that his family and friends were lucky to have had him in their lives for the period that they did. He was the most thoroughly decent and kind man, and his empathy for all living things – whether human, animal or plant – was on an otherworldly level. Everything that is good in me, I learnt from him.

I moved out of home to go to university when I was 18. This was followed by various moves to countries overseas over the years, which meant that we typically only saw each other annually. In May 2016, however, I was able to fly him over from France to my home in Canada for a dream road trip for both of us. I fulfilled a long-held wish a few years ago of becoming a Porsche 911 owner, and my dad came over for a 4-day road trip with 10 Porsche friends of mine through the forested and winding roads of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia. The driving pace was at times spirited, and my dad said he could still hear the wonderful sound of flat 6s echoing in his mind for months after the trip. He seat-hopped from car-to-car through the trip, getting to know the others and sampling different flavours of Porsche. As was Dad’s way, in the short time he knew the others on the trip, he made an impact with his kindness, his humour, and his genuine interest in others’ lives. On the last day of the trip, which fell on his 72nd birthday, he and I peeled off from the group and made a special journey to Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, Fallingwater, in southern Pennsylvania. One of his other passions (and, in fact, his profession) was architecture, and Fallingwater had been an icon to him since his student days. The in-depth house tour was a spiritual experience for him, and I am grateful we got to do the trip together.

He travelled over to Canada again in September 2016 with my mother to meet his first grandchild, my son, who was born in August. That was the last time I saw him. I had booked for him to come over for another Porsche road trip in May 2017. He was so excited about this and about meeting all of his Porsche friends from last year again.

I’ve written more than intended, and it’s all been done in the midst of a grief I’ve never before experienced and which feels as though it will never end. However, I do want to thank you, his PF1 forum friends, for your engagement with him and for the knowledgeable outlet that you provided. It was important to him and he really appreciated it.

Beatuiful post. Once again coldolences and RIP

Truly sad news.

Deepest condolences, he was a very likable person. One of the rare occasions that I can say that "I wish I could have met that man".

Thank you for letting us know, it can't be easy.

To Brendon, Catherine and the rest of your family and friends, my deepest condolences.

Just to reiterate what has been said many times, since I joined this forum (about the same time as Patrick) I always enjoyed reading his thoughts and respected his opinions. I find that I am more moved by this news about someone I never and had few conversations and interactions with than I have been in a long time.

Brendon, thank you for sharing your stories of your father, it puts onto perspective what we all thought of him. That he was a loving and kind who loved life as much as anything else. And I hope the fact that your grief is shared by many people who respected him around the world eases yours slightly and also lets you know what a wonderful man your father was and how many lives he affected globally.

His legacy will love on through his work and his family. And I wish you all the best in the hard months and years ahead. Know that my thoughts are with you and you family. RIP Patrick, you will be missed.

minchy wrote:There is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals that Chuck Norris allows to live.

My dad loved Chuck Norris Facts. In particular: "Chuck Norris converted God to atheism" and "Chuck Norris counted to infinity, twice". He even came up with one of his own: "Other people have the bottom fall out of their world but Chuck Norris has the world fall out of his bottom."

- Catherine O'Brien.

The messages from everyone in this thread are of as much solace as the many we've received from friends and family over these past days.

My dad always had seemingly bottomless reserves of energy and time to encourage and help others in their own endeavours, regardless of his own extremely busy life. It's therefore gratifying to see that the enormous work he poured into his F1 research is recognised and valued by such a knowledgable audience here on the PF1 Forum. Once again, thank you.

- Brendan O'Brien

Although I posted my condolences early on in the thread I had to post again.

The fact that there are so many people comment here who have been members for 10 years but only have a handful of posts to their name yet feel compelled to write something about your father in order to express how much they valued his posts speaks to how much his contributions meant to the forum.

Brendan, that road trip story and the photo at Falling Water was perfect. Paints a perfect picture of how many of us imagined he would be in person.

POBRatings wrote:Hello everyone, my name is Brendan O’Brien – I’m Patrick’s son.

Our family’s grief since he died on Friday morning has been almost unbearable. I wanted to take the time to post though because, although my dad had many and varied interests and a wide group of friends across the world, F1 was his passion and this forum – and his many virtual friends on it - was an important part of that.

My dad took me to a number of Grands Prix in our native South Africa when I was a kid, showing me around the pits and once - in the early years, must’ve been around the late-70s - putting his hands over my ears when the noise of the cars going by on the straight startled me and made me cry. Despite thoroughly enjoying the experiences, though, I never really picked up his passion for F1 to the same extent. Rather, we had a shared passion for sports cars – his knowledge about their design and history was almost as vast as his knowledge about F1. Some of my happiest memories are of weekends spent with him in the garage at home in Johannesburg helping him to restore his two beloved Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciales.

This is difficult to write. I keep cracking up.

He reminded me just a few weeks ago about how I had dragged him, ‘kicking and screaming’ (his words), onto the Planet F1 Forum back in 2011. Being of an earlier generation, and never a man with much patience for computers, it was an initial challenge to get him comfortable with the technicalities of posting and forum usage. I was determined that he should do this though - living in rural France, he needed an outlet for his F1 passion and you, the members of the PF1 Forum, provided that.

Most of you will be aware of the Ratings System that he had developed. He achieved so much in life, but the Ratings System was really his life’s major work and the culmination of everything he knew about F1. My sister, Catherine, spent countless hours with him over the past 3 or 4 years to help him formalize the work into book form. He really valued the input and knowledge of so many forum members in discussing his work and testing his conclusions. I also know that he regarded and valued a number of forum members as genuine friends, although he never met any of you.

I am struggling to rationalize his death. He was active and fit, and living life as fully and with as much passion as ever. He was only 72, and had so much more to give. The best I can do is that his family and friends were lucky to have had him in their lives for the period that they did. He was the most thoroughly decent and kind man, and his empathy for all living things – whether human, animal or plant – was on an otherworldly level. Everything that is good in me, I learnt from him.

I moved out of home to go to university when I was 18. This was followed by various moves to countries overseas over the years, which meant that we typically only saw each other annually. In May 2016, however, I was able to fly him over from France to my home in Canada for a dream road trip for both of us. I fulfilled a long-held wish a few years ago of becoming a Porsche 911 owner, and my dad came over for a 4-day road trip with 10 Porsche friends of mine through the forested and winding roads of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia. The driving pace was at times spirited, and my dad said he could still hear the wonderful sound of flat 6s echoing in his mind for months after the trip. He seat-hopped from car-to-car through the trip, getting to know the others and sampling different flavours of Porsche. As was Dad’s way, in the short time he knew the others on the trip, he made an impact with his kindness, his humour, and his genuine interest in others’ lives. On the last day of the trip, which fell on his 72nd birthday, he and I peeled off from the group and made a special journey to Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, Fallingwater, in southern Pennsylvania. One of his other passions (and, in fact, his profession) was architecture, and Fallingwater had been an icon to him since his student days. The in-depth house tour was a spiritual experience for him, and I am grateful we got to do the trip together.

He travelled over to Canada again in September 2016 with my mother to meet his first grandchild, my son, who was born in August. That was the last time I saw him. I had booked for him to come over for another Porsche road trip in May 2017. He was so excited about this and about meeting all of his Porsche friends from last year again.

I’ve written more than intended, and it’s all been done in the midst of a grief I’ve never before experienced and which feels as though it will never end. However, I do want to thank you, his PF1 forum friends, for your engagement with him and for the knowledgeable outlet that you provided. It was important to him and he really appreciated it.

You know, I read this last night and I wanted to write something in response but was literally so choked up, both from your sad loss and the fact this awesome time was your last physical interaction with your dad. I have three mongrels and I do so many things they love to do because I want to share in these moments with them in the hopes they have stories of wonderful times and experiences they got to spend and share with their limping dad. The way you both speak of your father paints the picture that he was an even more wonderful human being than any of us imagined and his love for people in general and life itself was even grander than his love for F1 and all motorsport in general.

Even now, I'm feeling like when Obiwan Kenobi felt that disturbance in the force when the Deathstar blew up a planet and all those lives lost impacted him. (sorry for a movie reference, but my mind is a trove of pictures and moments that works just like Martin Tupper's did on Dream On) Somehow I'm picturing myself much like your dad is the picture, only I'm on a cliff of some sort looking into the distance knowing and feeling like the world lost someone that is of such importance to a vast number of people. I feel puzzled, bewildered, and somewhat lost, trying to make sense of this, outside the natural course of life.

While I grew up Catholic, I am by no means religious in any traditional sense, because everything I read, and was "taught" led me to the realization that if indeed there is a heaven, than all one needs to do to be invited is be kind to their fellow man, and give of oneself and lend a helping hand whenever possible, and do so without the expectation of getting anything in return, outside the gratification of knowing you've helped someone in some capacity. That being how I think of life, you dad received the biggest invitation of most anyone I've ever had the pleasure of encountering in my life, because outside Mother Teresa, you'd be hard pressed to come across another individual who is as genuinely kind, welcoming and understanding as Mr. Patrick O'Brien.

I lost my father in law June 3rd last year and he was more of a father to me than my own dad (difficult pain in the but as he was) and it was devastating then, and to this day when I go visit my mother in Law (also more mother to me than my own mom) I always feel like something is missing. And while time heals all, when people like your father touch others' lives, the loss is genuinely felt by every one of those souls he touched as if they've lost someone in their own family.

I wish you both, and everyone else the very best during this difficult time, but take solace in knowing you had the esteemed privilege of having Patrick O'Brien as you father, though as with any parent, I'm sure he felt quite the opposite… He was privileged to have been your father.


Thanks again for taking the time to let all of us know of your father's passing. I know it wasn't easy, but rest assured all of us are grateful for you guys having done so.

I wish you guys all the best moving forward in your lives.
--
ROB.

F1 MERCENARY wrote:You know, I read this last night and I wanted to write something in response but was literally so choked up, both from your sad loss and the fact this awesome time was your last physical interaction with your dad. I have three mongrels and I do so many things they love to do because I want to share in these moments with them in the hopes they have stories of wonderful times and experiences they got to spend and share with their limping dad. The way you both speak of your father paints the picture that he was an even more wonderful human being than any of us imagined and his love for people in general and life itself was even grander than his love for F1 and all motorsport in general.

Even now, I'm feeling like when Obiwan Kenobi felt that disturbance in the force when the Deathstar blew up a planet and all those lives lost impacted him. (sorry for a movie reference, but my mind is a trove of pictures and moments that works just like Martin Tupper's did on Dream On) Somehow I'm picturing myself much like your dad is the picture, only I'm on a cliff of some sort looking into the distance knowing and feeling like the world lost someone that is of such importance to a vast number of people. I feel puzzled, bewildered, and somewhat lost, trying to make sense of this, outside the natural course of life.

While I grew up Catholic, I am by no means religious in any traditional sense, because everything I read, and was "taught" led me to the realization that if indeed there is a heaven, than all one needs to do to be invited is be kind to their fellow man, and give of oneself and lend a helping hand whenever possible, and do so without the expectation of getting anything in return, outside the gratification of knowing you've helped someone in some capacity. That being how I think of life, you dad received the biggest invitation of most anyone I've ever had the pleasure of encountering in my life, because outside Mother Teresa, you'd be hard pressed to come across another individual who is as genuinely kind, welcoming and understanding as Mr. Patrick O'Brien.

I lost my father in law June 3rd last year and he was more of a father to me than my own dad (difficult pain in the but as he was) and it was devastating then, and to this day when I go visit my mother in Law (also more mother to me than my own mom) I always feel like something is missing. And while time heals all, when people like your father touch others' lives, the loss is genuinely felt by every one of those souls he touched as if they've lost someone in their own family.

I wish you both, and everyone else the very best during this difficult time, but take solace in knowing you had the esteemed privilege of having Patrick O'Brien as you father, though as with any parent, I'm sure he felt quite the opposite… He was privileged to have been your father.


Thanks again for taking the time to let all of us know of your father's passing. I know it wasn't easy, but rest assured all of us are grateful for you guys having done so.

I wish you guys all the best moving forward in your lives.
--
ROB.

Thank you so much, Rob. Your heartfelt post means a tremendous amount to us.

Brendan

F1 MERCENARY wrote: You know, I read this last night and I wanted to write something in response but was literally so choked up, both from your sad loss and the fact this awesome time was your last physical interaction with your dad. I have three mongrels and I do so many things they love to do because I want to share in these moments with them in the hopes they have stories of wonderful times and experiences they got to spend and share with their limping dad. The way you both speak of your father paints the picture that he was an even more wonderful human being than any of us imagined and his love for people in general and life itself was even grander than his love for F1 and all motorsport in general.

Even now, I'm feeling like when Obiwan Kenobi felt that disturbance in the force when the Deathstar blew up a planet and all those lives lost impacted him. (sorry for a movie reference, but my mind is a trove of pictures and moments that works just like Martin Tupper's did on Dream On) Somehow I'm picturing myself much like your dad is the picture, only I'm on a cliff of some sort looking into the distance knowing and feeling like the world lost someone that is of such importance to a vast number of people. I feel puzzled, bewildered, and somewhat lost, trying to make sense of this, outside the natural course of life.

While I grew up Catholic, I am by no means religious in any traditional sense, because everything I read, and was "taught" led me to the realization that if indeed there is a heaven, than all one needs to do to be invited is be kind to their fellow man, and give of oneself and lend a helping hand whenever possible, and do so without the expectation of getting anything in return, outside the gratification of knowing you've helped someone in some capacity. That being how I think of life, you dad received the biggest invitation of most anyone I've ever had the pleasure of encountering in my life, because outside Mother Teresa, you'd be hard pressed to come across another individual who is as genuinely kind, welcoming and understanding as Mr. Patrick O'Brien.

I lost my father in law June 3rd last year and he was more of a father to me than my own dad (difficult pain in the but as he was) and it was devastating then, and to this day when I go visit my mother in Law (also more mother to me than my own mom) I always feel like something is missing. And while time heals all, when people like your father touch others' lives, the loss is genuinely felt by every one of those souls he touched as if they've lost someone in their own family.

I wish you both, and everyone else the very best during this difficult time, but take solace in knowing you had the esteemed privilege of having Patrick O'Brien as you father, though as with any parent, I'm sure he felt quite the opposite… He was privileged to have been your father.


Thanks again for taking the time to let all of us know of your father's passing. I know it wasn't easy, but rest assured all of us are grateful for you guys having done so.

I wish you guys all the best moving forward in your lives.
--
ROB.

Hello Rob

I like your Star Wars analogy, and think that imagery from films and stories is often the best way to mediate emotions or come to term with things. Films can contain powerful spiritual messages.

I agree with the philosophy you outlined. My dad also grew up Catholic but was in fact non-sectarian and more of a mystic by nature, in that he blended the practical and the spiritual. He never focused on one to the exclusion of the other. This balance I believe enabled him to be accomplished in so many different areas of life.

While many people need to undergo cataclysms in their lives in order to lose their harshness or their indifference, my dad seemed to intuit the fragility of life, and always made a conscious effort to be as nice and pleasant and gentle to people as he could. His sensitivity extended to animals, trees and the environment.

Your words about my dad receiving the biggest invitation to heaven moved me to new depths of tears, as did the earlier poster who wrote “And if there is Heaven (have not made my mind about that one yet), then Patrick is there.”

Sorry to hear about the recent loss of your father (I will call him your father) and that you’ve already had experience with that ongoing feeling of ‘something missing’.

Thank you for your good wishes and lovely sentiments.
Catherine

Great (and respected) contributor to the forum. Great (virtual!) friend. Obviously a great father. Privileged to have known him, if just from a keyboard.
Rest in peace.

Catherine and Brendon,

I've been a member of this forum for over 13 years now and very rarely post (less than 20 posts in that time) but I do read an awful lot.

I have had tears welling up in my eyes reading through this thread, your dad will certainly be greatly missed by many forum members. Every time I visit this forum, any new thread started by POBRatings is one of the first I read and I've enjoyed reading each and every one of his posts.

I wish you and your family and friends all the best in this difficult time and, like many others, I thank you for taking the time to let us know the sad news, when I'm sure you have many other things to be worrying about!

Thanks again and best wishes for the future. I feel privileged to have been able to read the knowledgeable and interesting posts that Patrick has made over the years.

Just reading this now. It's a lot to take in

I had a couple of PM chats with Patrick over the years. He told me I should be a pro journalist! I took it as quite the compliment from such a knowledgeable person as him

RIP Patrick. I think we had a similar taste in what we liked in a driver, making it very easy to get along with him . Thanks Catherine and Brendan for updating us and my condolences to you and your family

Catherine and Brendan,

Just read this - my heartfelt condolences to you and the rest of your family. Patrick was one of the more knowledgeable and respected members of the forum, and was always up for a fun conversation/debate. It was very sad to see this news, but Brendon's anecdote of the amazing time he had with Patrick the last time he saw him was heart-warming - exactly how I would imagine a sportscar/F1 lover to be. The forum is poorer for his loss - I wish you the strength you need to move on and cherish his memories.

Blake - Also terrible reading about the passing away of your friend. Times like these make you realize how trivial things like F1 are - but these are also the things that give meaning to life sometimes. My wishes and prayers are with you.

I've left it very late to post on this thread as I didn't know what to say. I still don't, but fortunately others have made it clear how much Patrick was liked and respected by everyone on this forum.

His children have made it clear that he was the same in 'real life' - a rare gentleman who who will be greatly missed, even by those of us who only knew him on this forum.

Even now, when I read posts about various years/drivers/cars I wonder what POBR's rating system would show - and realise again that we've lost one of the few universally respected posters.

Its very hard to explain how sad I am at this news, but my heart goes out to his family.