LAMBERTVILLE — Richard E. O’Brien, a lawyer who was city of Toledo tax commissioner for more than 20 years and, afterward, advised communities around northwest Ohio on their tax codes, died Sunday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Perrysburg Township. He was 78.

He had Parkinson’s disease since 2013. He and his wife moved to Bedford Township in retirement. He and his family lived for decades in the West Toledo neighborhood of Old Orchard, where he grew up.

“It felt like a part of him,” his daughter, Kelly, said. “It was a place that had such great memories for him and he wanted to share them with his family and give us the same opportunities, through Gesu Parish and the community.”

Mr. O’Brien retired from city government in the early 1990s, but continued his law practice until recently, with specialties in tax and property law and estates and trusts.

For several years later in the 1990s, municipalities sought him out to review and streamline their tax codes, including Maumee, Northwood, Oregon, Ottawa Hills, Fremont, Napoleon, and Sandusky.

At age 34, he became Toledo’s commissioner of taxation. Then-City Manager James Daken told The Blade that the new commissioner would have to navigate upcoming changes in income tax reciprocity agreements with suburban neighbors — and to make sure that more income earners paid what they owed in payroll taxes, making the challenges of the job “greater than at any time in the history of the municipal income tax program.”

Mr. O’Brien oversaw the voter-approved 0.75-increase in the payroll tax charged workers in the city, which took effect in 1982. Voters approved the most recent renewal Tuesday.

“My dad was born to serve people,” his daughter said. “He just thought he could affect more by working in the public sector.”

For a time, he served as acting city finance director in the wake of the collapse in 1985 of ESM Government Securities of Fort Lauderdale, which cost the city $19.2 million it had invested. He was a former chairman of the Ohio Municipal League’s tax committee.

Mr. O’Brien was a former president and board member of Toledo Metro Federal Credit Union and the Gesu-Rosary Cathedral credit union. He was active at Gesu Parish and volunteered for veterans’ groups.

He was born Dec. 2, 1937, to Joseph and Mary O’Brien. He was a graduate of Central Catholic High School and the University of Toledo, from which he received a bachelor of science degree in accounting.

“He was a pretty smart guy and liked digging into the puzzle of numbers,” his daughter said.

During four years of Air Force service, he became a lieutenant and was payroll officer when he was stationed in Libya.

He received a law degree from UT in 1969. He was a former assistant trust officer of the Toledo Trust Co.

Surviving are his wife, the former Carol Reiter, whom he married in June, 1965; daughter, Kelly Manuelidis; son, Kevin P. O’Brien, and three granddaughters.

Services will be at 1 p.m. today in Gesu Church. Arrangements are by Ansberg-West Funeral Home.

The family suggests tributes to the International Boxing Club of Toledo and its Knock Out Parkinson’s exercise program through ibctoledo.org/​donate.html.

Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.

First Published November 10, 2016, 5:00 a.m.