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Mi madre era muy tranquila; mi padre no lo era.

Mi madre era muy tranquila; mi padre no lo era.
My mother was very calm; my father was not.
From Lesson 396:Answering with lo (lo estoy)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Mi madre era muy tranquila; mi padre no lo era.

Why is the word lo used in no lo era?
In Spanish, when you want to refer back to an adjective or characteristic just mentioned, you use the pronoun lo with verbs like ser, estar, or parecer. Here, lo replaces the idea of being calm. While in English we just say "was not," Spanish requires this pronoun so the verb isn't left hanging.
Since tranquila is feminine, why doesn't it become la in the second half (no la era)?
When replacing an adjective, you always use the invariable neuter pronoun lo. This is true regardless of the gender or number of the noun the adjective originally described. Even though it refers back to the concept of being calm (tranquila for the mother), the pronoun must stay as lo.
Could I just leave out the lo and say mi padre no era?
No, that sounds incomplete in Spanish. English allows us to drop the adjective and end the sentence with the verb ("my father was not"), but Spanish grammar requires a placeholder. You must use lo to represent the missing adjective.
Why use the imperfect tense era instead of the preterite fue?
The imperfect tense (era) is used to describe ongoing, general characteristics in the past without a specific beginning or end. You are describing your parents' general personalities over time, rather than an action or event that happened and concluded.

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