Rep. George O’Brien, 69; Congressman for 7 Terms

Rep. George M. O’Brien (R-Ill.), a seven-term member of Congress, died Thursday of cancer while an appropriations bill he helped write was being debated on the House floor. He was 69.

Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) announced O’Brien’s death on the House floor about 8 p.m. The House had spent most of the day debating the fiscal 1987 appropriations bill for the Departments of State, Justice, Commerce and related agencies.

O’Brien was the ranking Republican on the Appropriations subcommittee dealing with those agencies and would have played an active role in floor debate had he not been ill.

The Illinois lawmaker decided not to seek reelection this year after learning he had prostate cancer, an aide said.

Spokesman Ted Cormaney said the conservative congressman died at 5:30 p.m. at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md.

O’Brien won a tough GOP primary in 1982 after redrawn congressional district lines put him in the same heavily Republican district as 24-year veteran Rep. Ed Derwinski. O’Brien won the showdown by 2,000 votes and was easily reelected in 1984.

He entered politics by winning a seat on the Will County Board of Supervisors, where he served from 1956 to 1964. He was elected to the Illinois General Assembly in 1970 and sat on the Executive and Judiciary committees of the House.

O’Brien joined the Air Force during World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Born in 1917 in Chicago, O’Brien attended Northwestern University and received his law degree from Yale University.

O’Brien is survived by his wife, Mary Lou Peyla, and two daughters, Carol Block of Los Angeles and Debra Pershey of Chicago.