Onsrud Cutter mourns loss of Richard ‘Steve’ O’Brien

Richard “Steve” O’Brien, 78, a former president, CEO and chairman of Onsrud Cutter Mfg. in Libertyville, Ill., died on March 30.

During his time at Onsrud Cutter, he was well-known in the woodworking, plastics and aerospace industries, according to the company.

“Steve led the company to produce cutting tool designs to address the shift from hand routing of wood products to the CNC routing of engineered wood panel products. This led to numerous industry awards. He recognized the growing usage of plastic and composite materials within various industries and led the development of advanced tooling designs using ceramics, diamond coatings and polycrystalline diamond,” the company said in a statement.

“Steve always supported and encouraged wood technology training at the technical and secondary education levels. He established Onsrud’s internal training efforts, which continue to this day.”