Services will be held for O’Brien on Wednesday, April 6 from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Riverdale-on-Hudson Funeral Home, 6110 Riverdale Ave., Bronx, New York.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Thursday, April 7 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Margaret of Cortona Church, 6000 Riverdale Ave., Bronx, New York.

“Astrid was so much a part of the college here,” teaching a vast range of courses and always advocating for what students needed, said Robert A. Grimes, SJ, dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC), where O’Brien taught until her retirement in 2012. “She was always extremely interested in her students and would go to bat for them,” looking out for their interests both academically and personally, he said.

Colleague Dominic Balestra, PhD, professor of philosophy, described her as “unhesitating in her commitment and dedication to students and resolute in her commitments to what she believed in.”

O’Brien was a devout Catholic and an active and vibrant member of the American Catholic Philosophical Association in the New York area, he said. She not only served as a conscientious treasurer for the association but also started a women’s group within it. “She was a voice there, and a strong one,” said Balestra, who served as the association’s program chairman and then president.

Born Astrid Marie Richie, O’Brien earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the College of Mount St. Vincent, but switched to her true passion in graduate school. She earned a master’s in philosophy from Marquette University and her doctorate from Fordham, specializing in the ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas.

She began her Fordham career in 1959 as an adjunct professor in the undergraduate school of education at Fordham’s former facility at 302 Broadway, where she met the professor, Robert C. O’Brien, PhD, who would become her husband. The couple taught together for more than 50 years, and O’Brien retired in 2012, after 53 years. 

A Q and A with O’Brien was featured at that time in the FCLC student newspaper, The Observer.

O’Brien and her husband had three children: Robert J. O’Brien of Port St. Lucie, Florida; Frances C. O’Brien of Saddle Brook, New Jersey and Carol O’Brien Haagensen of Westborough, Massachusetts, and three grandchildren, according to a April 3 obituary. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations in her memory to go to supporting Heifer International, one of her favorite charities at http://fundraise.heifer.org/amob.

John Adam, S.J.

Father Adam was a member of the faculty at Fordham, first teaching philosophy in the Undergraduate School of Education from 1962 until 1971, and then in the College at Lincoln Center from 1971 to 1994.

He was then called to Hungary to be the first provincial of the newly restored Hungarian Province of the Society.

“He traveled all over the world, but would always be back to teaching on Monday,” said Anne Mannion, Ph.D., associate professor of history, who knew Father Adams for more than 40 years. “He was a great friend, and his students adored him. He worked extremely well with young people. He recognized that was part of a Jesuit’s responsibility.”

Father Adam, who died at the Jesuit Community in Miskolc, Hungary, following a long illness, left his mark on the spiritual community around the world. He was a priest for 50 of his 83years. He died on the day of his 83rd birthday, in the presence of his Jesuit brothers.

Fellow Jesuits, colleagues, students and family members cherish the memories of his faithful love for all people, which was rooted in Jesus’ faithful love for him.

Astrid O’Brien, Ph.D., associate professor of philosophy, said Father Adam “touched the lives of many students.”

A Mass of the Resurrection was celebrated on April 23 in Miskolc.

A memorial service was held in the Blessed Rupert Mayer Chapel on the Lincoln Center campus that same day.