Julia Sarcinelli
Associate Editor
FSU sophomore Matt O’Leary, 20, died Monday, July 4 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.
His mother, Nancy O’Leary, described her son as “an ambitious kid” who loved hockey, his friends and his dog Zoey. “He was just a very warm and charismatic kind of person,” she said.
O’Leary was a business marketing major at FSU, had attended Mass Bay Community College and was a graduate of Framingham High School class of 2014. He also got his real estate license and worked at Charlesgate Realty in Boston, taking classes while he worked on and off full-time.
Dylan Bradley, a close friend of O’Leary since they were kids, a Framingham resident and UMass Amherst 2015 graduate, was planning with O’Leary on starting different business opportunities of buying into property or opening an Amazon business.
Bradley said his earliest memory is when O’Leary was born, and he remembered growing up down the street from each other. They would drive to school together with friends and constantly be at each other’s house.
“Everybody in Framingham knew we were family,” Bradley said, adding O’Leary was like his brother. He described O’Leary as being “larger than life” and “was somebody special” who could make friends with everyone.
“He could put a smile on anybody’s face and would get along with everybody,” he said.
FSU senior Jack Braverman became close friends with O’Leary when Braverman was around 17. He remembered playing NHL on the PlayStation together and O’Leary playing hockey “almost every night.”
Braverman said O’Leary was someone who “just loved life, you know. I miss him every day.”
O’Leary’s mother said because of his love for hockey, in lieu of Zowers, they raised about $9,000 for the Framingham Youth Hockey Program. She said O’Leary played in the men’s league after high school and it was a huge passion for him.
She remembered O’Leary taking a penalty shot when he was playing for the Framingham High School hockey team.
“There was just him and the goalie, and he made it. I’ll never forget his excitement,” she said.
O’Leary is survived by his parents, Nancy O’Leary and Kevin O’Leary, his sister, Mollie O’Leary of Framingham and paternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and his longtime girlfriend, Samantha Ward.