O’Brien, of Merritt Island, Florida, represented Brevard County Commission District 2.  He also served eleven years on the Brevard County Tourist Development Council, made an unsuccessful bid for the Florida State Legislature in 2004, and came up short in a six-man race for a Port Canaveral Commission seat in 2010.

O’Brien, who was owner and chief executive of ABBCO equipment manufacturing in Cape Canaveral, Florida, is survived by his wife Sharon O’Brien, five children, and eight grandchildren.

Brevard County Commission Chairman Chuck Nelson, who was county Parks and Recreation director during O’Brien’s tenure as commissioner, credited O’Brien as being instrumental in his own election campaign in 2006.

“I had a good relationship with him,” Nelson said.  “I enjoyed working with Commissioner O’Brien as a county staff person, and I’ll miss him as a friend.”

Said Rob Varley, director of the Brevard County Tourism Development office: “Randy served on my Tourism Development Council for many years and always had some good things to say.  We appreciated his sense of humor.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.