Newspaper columnist, critic, and novelist.

Howard Vincent O'Brien was born on the North Side of Chicago in 1888 to William Vincent and Mary Ellen O'Brien. He received a BA from Yale University in 1910 and always displayed an interest in the arts. He began his writing career on the editorial staff of Printers Ink magazine, and later founded and edited a magazine titled Art, published with the backing of his grandfather's art gallery, M. O'Brien and Son. He also briefly ran his own firm called H. V. Advertising. During World War I he served as first lieutenant of artillery attached to intelligence. He wrote several novels in the 1910s and 1920s including An Abandoned Woman, Trodden Gold, and the anonymously penned memoir Wine, Women, and War.

He joined the staff of the Chicago Daily News as literary editor in 1928, where he oversaw the book pages, wrote book reviews, and wrote a regular literary column titled "Footnotes." His most well known column, "All Things Considered," had its origin in Europe where O'Brien was sent due to ill health in 1932. His original assignment was to send back sketches of literary figures, but found himself, "sick of egomaniac authors." He wrote instead about trivial things that amused him. Chicago Daily News publisher Col. Frank Knox liked the work so much that he suggested O'Brien become a full-time columnist. O'Brien continued to write "All Things Considered" for the rest of his life.

O'Brien married wife Louise in 1912. They had three children, sons Bayne and Donel, and daughter Jean. In his most famous column, "So Long, Son," O'Brien tells of seeing his son Donel off to World War II, where Donel was later killed in action. Howard Vincent O'Brien died September 30, 1947 after a long struggle with cancer.