Peter Michael O'Brien

Peter Michael O’Brien passed away on March 15, 2020 after an inconceivable and quick illness.  To prove how Irish he really was, Peter hung around in the ICU until after midnight on St Patrick’s Day when the incredible transplant team at Health Park hospital and LifeLink helped him to share the gift of life.  Peter was 40 years old and had been showered with love in the days that preceded his passing.

He was born in Detroit, Michigan June 22, 1979 to Philip and Carol (Beltz) O’Brien and grew up in St. Clair Shores, however he made sure to tell anyone and everyone that he was from Detroit and loved all things Detroit.  He was a proud son of South Lake High School where he made everyone laugh, including teachers; skipped classes and got caught by his parents, and learned that he loved to be the center of attention. He developed friendships with a group of people at South Lake that stayed strong for over 25+ years and Peter was there for every wedding, many kids’ first birthdays, and wanted to get on a plane no matter the cost for any sickness or funeral that impacted those friends.

After high school he found his calling in the restaurant industry and shined as a server, bartender and sometime manager. He brightened up every table he served and made friends with regulars and coworkers alike. In Michigan he lit up the world at Waves and Fishbones and in Florida he entertained the customers at CinCin, Bubble Room, Doc Ford’s, George & Wendy’s, and Blue Giraffe. He even lived everyone’s dream of being a snowbird in his 30s when he spent a summer at Atwater Brewing in Grosse Pointe and returned to Cape Coral in September.

Peter did something that most adults struggle to do - find real, honest lasting friendships after high school. He not only made friends in Florida as an adult but he created an entire family of people in Cape Coral and Fort Myers. He would spend Christmas morning with his nieces, eat an early dinner with his parents and then return to a friends for dinner; Thanksgivings were a marathon of food and celebration with as many people as possible, and birthdays never passed without a call, text or hug from Peter.

He was not a surface level friend but was someone that genuinely connected with everyone he met.  The friends he brought into his family were as close as if they were blood and he genuinely loved everyone he befriended.  To know Peter was to know generosity at its true core and to be loved by Pete was to feel love and warmth in its truest sense.  The world is a darker place without him in it.

He is survived by all that knew him and loved him but especially his parents Philip and Carol (Beltz) O’Brien; his sister and brother in law Emily (O’Brien) and Robert Iafrate and beloved nephew Lucas; special lady friend Kayla Elizabeth McCurry; best friends Rusty and Diana Kassley and their girls Kaylee, Sabriel, Eliana and Henley; Nick and Amber Samra; Joey and Laura Harris, Dan and Stephanie Shouse, Kelli and Scott Gersch and their brood of children Caden, Adalyn, Olivia, Emma and Payton; and too many more friends and family members to name.

We will be hosting celebration of life parties in Fort Myers and St Clair Shores sometime this Spring or Summer. In the meantime, please post your photos to www.yogile.com/petermichaelobrien and continue to share stories on his Facebook page.

In lieu of flowers, please visit The Blue Giraffe and mention that you loved Peter; sign up as an organ donor; overtip your servers and bartenders; buy a random person a beer and a shot; support and fight for universal healthcare; vote; and donate to any organization that helps make the world a better place. 

“When you have more than you need, build a longer table not a higher wall”

Mullins Memorial Funeral Home & Cremation Service, Cape Coral, is entrusted with final care.