Larry O’Bryan wants you to know his story.
A longtime Kentucky political media consultant and strategist, Larry O’Bryan has diversified his professional pursuits in recent years to include a major labeling business, TPC-KY, Inc., to complement Pro-Active Media, a successful political consulting firm he founded.
But Larry O’Bryan reflects affectionately on his strong Catholic upbringing as a formative influence on his current interests.
Parents’ Hard Work and Sacrifice
Born in 1959, Larry O’Bryan grew up in the Highlands in Louisville, Kentucky. The Highlands once was a marginal neighborhood but is now a trendy upscale neighborhood. He learned a strict work ethic from his parents at an early age.
“My father never went to school past seventh grade; my mother finished high school, but they were pretty much self-taught'” O’Bryan said. “They were successful buying old homes in disrepair in marginal neighborhoods in Louisville and my father was the handyman who would turn them into apartments.”
Larry O’Bryan’s parents, Charles and Ramona, toiled tirelessly to help transform a hard-scrabble neighborhood into a popular community and property values escalated. “I worked at the properties with my siblings and that’s how I earned spending money,” O’Bryan said. “They never gave us spending money.”
An Emphasis on Education
Any money his frugal parents could squirrel away was allocated to education, Larry O’Bryan recalled, and he and all of his siblings attended Catholic grade schools and high schools. “I went to St. Xavier High School, an all-male private Catholic school” founded in 1864 in Louisville, O’Bryan said. “It is regularly ranked as one of the top 20 prep high schools in the nation.”
After high school, Larry O’Bryan attended and graduated from Western Kentucky University double major in government and journalism. “My parents made sure all five children went to college, too,” he added. “I know this education and the commitment my parents made for us is a major reason for my successes in life.”
Giving Back
The sacrifices of Charles and Ramona, who passed away in the mid-2000s a year apart, inspired their son. “It’s a major reason I have given back,” Larry O’Bryan said. Larry O’Bryan is the sole donor and has established an endowment at St. Xavier High School to assist young men who cannot otherwise afford to attend.
Larry O’Bryan said Charles’ military service in France and Germany during World War II motivated him to donate to the Salvation Army. “We just made a donation to the Salvation Army for hurricane relief,” Larry O’Bryan said. “I also donate to Catholic Charities every year because that was my mother’s favorite charity.”
Today, Larry O’Bryan dedicates much of his time to TPC-KY, Inc., which supplies labels for major manufacturers, including GE Appliances – TPC-KY recently won a Silent Warrior award from the GE President’s Council in recognition of its outstanding support for GE Appliances. TPC projects record growth in 2019. In addition, TPC-KY is a key partner with Black & Decker, Thornton’s and several other regional and national accounts.
Larry O’Bryan also founded Pro-Active Media, leading to a successful career as a political media consultant and strategist in Louisville, Ky. He helped defeat a four-term incumbent state senator in Jefferson County in 2010, along with claiming three judgeships.
O’Bryan delivered again in 2012, providing the winning media for two judges. O’Bryan also produced the aggressive television spots that secured state Sen. Perry Clark’s election against his much better-funded opponent.
As the first local political media consultant to produce and air political ads in hi-definition, Larry O’Bryan remains on the leading edge of campaign technology. O’Bryan began his career working in the 1980 Kentucky General Assembly during Gov. John Y. Brown’s administration and for the Kentucky Democratic Party in 1982.
For more information about Larry O’Bryan, go to www.LarryOBryan.com.
