Fact Checking Part I: The Old Man Was Always Evil

There's a made up misconception from the sequel hating crowd that RoboCop 2 changed the "good" Old Man into a ruthless villain. But he was always an evil man. When I first saw RoboCop I never questioned that fact. The supporters of the misconception point at the statement from Dick Jones that the head of OCP is a "Sweet Old Man". I suppose they also believe that Morton is a "Buddy"

Before we go into official sources let's see what we have in the original movie. 

We only see the Old Man twice in RoboCop. None of the scenes showed him behind the closed doors thought. If we would only judge Dick Jones by his behavior and presence in the board room scene, he'd be exactly the same as the Old man, sans power. Actually, he would seem even nicer. Much nicer. He feared the Old Man, and let him talk down on him.  That means he knew what kind of power the Old Man has.

In the first scene, we see the Old Man as someone who holds a huge power and is very stern. Then when Kinney dies he gets maniacal ...not because someone was just blasted to pieces - he completely shrugged it off and thought only about business that will put him back in the schedule. The only difference between the Old Man and Jones is that Jones feared the Old Man and Old Man had the power.  

Jones always felt like a smaller fish. If such powerful and cold man like Jones, who had big crime connections feared Old Man, then he obviously knew something the viewers didn't. He didn't get rid of the Old Man like he did with Bob Morton and he could've easily use Boddicker and become #1 right away instead of sucking up and taking abuse. But he didn't. He never even thought about it even though the fact that the Old Man was still breathing kept him from being #1. So he knew something more. He knew not to screw with the Old Man. He put his head down when the Old Man growled

In the original movie, the Old Man is untouched by death and violence, showing what a crude, very cold blooded and cruel person he is. He is the only one who haven't left the table during the ED-209 shootout. 

The second time we see him is briefly in the boardroom again. He punches Jones, cuts himself loose and seems unaffected by Jones being blasted away and squashed on the sidewalk below and by what happened. 

One can imagine how he got into this position and how he raised this company into such heights. One can only think what Jones knew about him that made him tremble in his presence and lower his head when meeting his fury, and not even consider taking him out so he can take his place sooner and easier

So how Dan O'Herlihy, the man himself who portrayed the character described him? In Starburst Magazine #147 from 1990, he says : "He was pretty ruthless in number 1, but that was good because of the comedy in the character. The man was so ruthless that you laughed. (...) The thing that made the Old Man work in number 1 was that he was outrageous"

Jones said: "He's a sweet old man, and he means well". But why would Jones reveal the true nature of Old Man to some rookie that just got into the big league and who's hands aren't even dirty yet? Besides, the audience knows full well that the Old Man is neither sweet nor good and the movie speaks for itself. He means well alright, but for him and OCP.

There's no change in the Old Man's character in RoboCop 2. Just the expansion. We just seen a lot more of him in Robo 2. This is exactly what Dan O'Herlihy said as well in the Starburst #147:

The only difference is that we see this cold and cruel man behind the closed doors this time around. He's a powerful man behind this mega corporation. and he acts the same in the public as he does in the board room in the first movie - stern and stoic, and talks about the better Detroit.

Wiping out the mayor and others wasn't even his idea though, it was suggested to him by Faxx and even then he hesitated and looked at Holzgang (his lawyer) in search for more options. If Mayor would get his payment, OCP's stock would fall and the entire empire would crumble. EVERYTHING was at stake for him.

There was even a reluctance to going as far as killing the mayor, so Faxx' says, "As I said sir, it all depends how far are we willing to go". That decision took some doing because hesitated yet gain for a long while, even sat back in his chair and stared blankly into space.

It was actually Dan O'Herlihy who wanted to explore the Old Man's ruthless nature more

The Old Man is absent and replaced in RoboCop 3, and we never get an explanation of what happened to him , despite an open ending of the previous movie (also, Dan O'Herlihy expressed an interest in reprising the role if R3 would come along saying "Of course! I love that character" in the above mentioned Starburst #147). He is replaced by someone referred to as the CEO. He is a much younger man who doesn't seem to be very intelligent and who's being pushed around and manipulated by others. He is a comic relief in the movie.

The Old Man is mentioned in RoboCop 3 and proudly spoken of, but where was he? Did he died? Was he prosecuted?

"But who can put a price tag on a dream? Our esteemed former chairman had a dream. He called it Delta City!".

And also: 

The character of the Old Man in fact did not return in the third film because, according to Fred Dekker in the audio commentary, O'Herlihy quit after reading the script