Neil Sullivan…An Appreciation
By Frank O'Connor
On Sunday, Sept. 7, last, Neil Sullivan, his wife Marie and I were driving through the Limerick countryside. He decided to stop for a soft drink at a small shop along the side of the road. He was in there an unusually long time when Marie sent me after him. She had to finally come after the two of us. Neil had discovered that the young woman of the house was a Sullivan from back in Tuosist, Co. Kerry, who was delighted to have some one to chat with from back home and give us all the latest news before we ever got there. This was the man. He was intensely interested in people and, particularly, Sullivans, being the founder and president of the Sullivan Sept.
Neil was born in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1915. His father was a native of Drenauliff near Kelly's Cross, west of Sneem, Co. Kerry. Having a hard time himself in a new land his father had an astute awareness, as many like him did, of the future opportunities for his son. He directed him towards the new field of refrigeration and air conditioning.
Though a dedicated student of Irish history for 25 years, despite numerous business trips around the world, he never set foot in Ireland. "Actually, my first visit to Ireland was forced upon me," he said. "We are doing some preliminary engineering studies and I was obliged to go to Dublin. I found myself with a weekend on my hands and on a whim, decided to visit my father's birthplace."
After his initial visit to Ireland and Kerry, he was so transformed by the breath-taking beauty of the country and county of his ancestors and the charm of the people that in a moment he became a dedicated convert. He became virtually a commuter across the Atlantic, making as many as six trips a year.
I first met Neil S. Sullivan on Nov. 18, 1972 at the Manor restaurant in West Orange, N.J. where the initial luncheon of the Gaelic Hall of Fame was held.
Though I had been back to Ireland that year and a few times in previous years on business, I had not been down to my native Kenmare in about 10 years. It hence came as a pleasant surprise to me to find that Neil had purchased a house outside the town and seemed to be going back there every weekend. Our mutual interest in that lovely place brought us closer together. We arranged to meet. On Dec. 19, 1972, at the executive offices of his world-wide engineering refrigeration firm, Neil S. Sullivan Associates, Orange N.J., I had the most inspiring afternoon of my life. His office is a library of Irish history and culture with ancient, new and well thumbed books from constant use. The man's interest was not only intense in presenting the great Irish saga to the world but its enormous contribution to the building of America and the Western Hemisphere.
The next month, January 1973, I visited his lovely home in Short Hills, for the meeting of the Irish American Cultural Institute, which was attended by prominent people from all over New Jersey and addressed by Dr. Eoin McKiernan, president of the institute.
On March 28 of that year we journeyed to Washington for a meeting with Peter Rodino, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and Senator Ted Kennedy to try and alleviate the Irish immigration distress. Two days later I was back at his home to meet his house guest Rory DeValera who was lecturing on Irish archeology at Seton Hall as part of the fabulous Irish fortnight.
Not only was he interested in Irish culture but through his work as national director of the I A C I, along with the indefatigable Eoin McKiernan, brought thousands of people each year to Ireland. On the last trip, Sept. 5, which I was on, Dr. McKiernan, showed me a telegram he had received from the President of Ireland, expressing appreciation at their message of condolence on the death of Eamon DeValera and stating how deeply interested Mr. De Valera had been in the work of the Institute. The people on the plane were a cross section of the American culture, many of whom were being gladly introduced to their ancestral inheritance for the first time. They'll be back and back again, as they repeatedly told me. Even while we were in Ireland, Neil and Eoin flew over to Paris to make arrangements for the next, I A C I dinner in Chicago with Princess Grace of Monaco, who is international president. She attended the dinner last January in New York.
Neil is survived by his wife Marie, formerly Patch, his six sons, Neil Robert, Dennis Barry, Daniel, Kevin and daughter Donna and seven grandchildren.
For this man who left a big footprint in life, I'll have to slightly paraphrase a poem called
The Return
by the great A.M. Sullivan
My people they came form Kenmare
They came in the grey of the year
They came when the sodden air was tainted with famine and fear
Now I look down on the century past
As I stand by the bridge of the town
The pilgrim comes home at last
No stranger among his own
