Born in Bandon, County Cork, he moved with his family to Canada when he was five, eventually settling in Toronto.

In 1861, he was one of the purchasers of Toronto's Victoria Brewery (founded by George Hart and Charles Hannath c.1840s as Hannath & Hart Brewery[2]), at the corner of Victoria and Gould Streets, which had an annual production of 1,000 barrels.

The company operated the Annie Craig, which carried excursionists from Toronto to the resort hotels at the mouth of the Humber River.

[4] In 1909, Pope Pius X made him the first Canadian layman to become a private Papal chamberlain.

Since then, a handful of individuals have been actively trying to reestablish the O'Keefe name due to the vital role that he played in shaping the city during the Victorian period.