Our 31st Lucas County prosecutor was born in Toledo in 1891, the son of a Toledo city fireman. He was educated in the public schools. He received his law degree from St. John's College and began his law practice in 1921. Prior to that, he was employed as a bookkeeper for a local engineering and construction company.

When Frazier Reams was elected Lucas County prosecutor in 1933, he appointed O'Connor as his assistant Prosecutor. When Reams decided not to run in 1936, O'Connor ran and was elected. He was re-elected in 1940. In 1942 he decided to run for the Court of Common Pleas, to which he was re-elected 3 times. When he died in 1964, he was serving his fourth term and been on the bench for 22 years.

As a Prosecutor, O'Connor was known as a vigilant and tough defender against perpetrators of swindles and confidence "con" games. One of his most notable convictions involved the Toledo Guaranty Corporation. In 1938, the firm was charged with swindling thousands of dollars by misrepresenting the value of stocks and notes it sold. O'Connor got lengthy convictions for several corporate officers.

On the other hand, as Posecutor, he developed a policy of reccomending leniency usually suspended sentences for defendants involved in crime for the first time. It is said that he bent over backwards to see that defendants got a fair trial. When he had to undergo surery at St. Vincent's Hospital and needed blood transfusions, Sherriff Bill Hirsch walked into the city jail and got 17 donors. One said that he had been sentenced by O'Connor but that he would not hold ait against him, saying: "He could have done a lot worse to me when I was before him."