Basil O'Connor was a friend and former law firm associate of President Franklin Roosevelt, whose physical handicap was credited with giving O'Connor the motivation to move into the humanitarian field.

O'Connor, born in Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1892, was a product of Harvard Law School. A lunch chat between O'Connor and Roosevelt in 1925 resulted in the establishment of the law firm Roosevelt and O'Connor, a partnership that lasted until the 1932 presidential election.

From 1948 to 1951, O'Connor, who also had close links with President Harry Truman, Roosevelt's successor, was a member of the president's committee on religion and welfare in the armed forces.

O'Connor was not regarded as a traditional humanitarian crusader. Forthright, terse and businesslike, he was interested primarily in results. A prodigious worker who usually limited himself to six hours sleep a night, he chose farming as a hobby and was interested in collecting first editions of American authors.

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