Remember Timothy Sullivan

A great friend of Pittsburgh progressive causes, Timothy Sullivan, husband of Jeanne Clark and friend to so many of us, passed away on March 10. His obituary (Post-Gazette below) omitted this family's wishes that memorial contributions be made to help ensure a Democratic victory in this years elections. SO THERE IT IS. GIVE GENEROUSLY IN MEMORY OF TIM.

Timothy J. Sullivan Jr. / Former teacher and public defender
Oct. 18, 1938 - March 10, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
By Amy McConnell Schaarsmith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Brave enough to jump from airplanes into the jungles of Vietnam and tough enough to get sober after years of alcoholism, Timothy J. Sullivan Jr. also was sweet enough to serve as the unofficial "dad" for struggling teenagers throughout the community until his death at home from a suspected heart attack or stroke on Monday afternoon. He was 69.
For Mr. Sullivan, of Shadyside, working to do right was a lifelong commitment.
"Kids were looking for somebody to be a dad and they would come to him," said his wife, Jeanne K.C. Clark. "We were always trying to get them into school and doing the right thing."
Mr. Sullivan, originally from Coraopolis and Moon, graduated from Moon High School and St. Joseph's College in Indiana, then returned to teach at Moon High in 1960. He was drafted the next year and served in Vietnam in the Special Forces for two years.
Returning to Pittsburgh in 1963, Mr. Sullivan attended Duquesne Law School at night and worked as a school community agent and probation officer during the day. He joined Reed Smith after passing the bar in the late 1960s, but discovered a love of defense work, especially for people who were poor and struggling, according to his wife.
Working in the Allegheny County public defender's office until 1988, Mr. Sullivan represented clients charged with everything from DUI to sexual assault to capital murder. While he always had a smile and a joke for colleagues -- he had the gift of the Irish blarney, said his wife -- he was a bulldog in court, said Bob Foreman, a former colleague.
"In the courtroom, he was ballsy," said Mr. Foreman, who still works as a public defender. "He certainly wasn't disrespectful to anyone, but he wasn't cowed by anyone. He was a fighter."
That fighting spirit had helped Mr. Sullivan get sober after battling alcoholism for years. He had his first drink at age 14, and struggled with a drinking problem even as he was raising his daughter, Maureen, and son, Tim III, while his first wife, Mary Elizabeth, was going through her own struggles with multiple sclerosis. She died in 1973.
Mr. Sullivan, who married Ms. Clark in 1975, quit drinking for good in 1979. After years of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and failed attempts to stay sober, Mr. Sullivan ultimately made it stick.
"That was really a lot of the heroism of it, that he would pick himself up and try again," said Ms. Clark. "Maybe it's that he didn't think he had another chance, that he got sober this time or he would die."
After leaving the field of law, Mr. Sullivan worked for several years at Barnes and Noble in Aspinwall, where many customers grew to know him well. He then began working at the Pittsburgh Public Schools, first as a day-to-day substitute, and then from 2002 to 2007 as a social studies teacher at Oliver High School.
During all those years, teenagers who needed a home found it with Mr. Sullivan and Ms. Clark. A nephew came to live for a while. So did their son's best friend when her mother decided to move to Africa and the girl didn't want to follow.
Now married with children of her own, that girl, Meuko Johnson, and her husband, Dwayne, recently retired from the military and moved their family back to Pittsburgh to be near Mr. Sullivan and Ms. Clark.
Mr. Sullivan was a member of Squirrel Hill NOW and a volunteer for the Freedom Unlimited Holiday Food Drive. He was a member of Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture) and a docent at Conservation Consultants Inc. He sang in the Sacred Heart Parish Choir. He also was a member of the 7th Ward Democratic Committee and assisted with successful judge campaigns throughout the state, from local district judge races to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by daughter Maureen and son Timothy III; sisters Carol A. Sullivan of Delaware, Mary Elizabeth Tillman of South Florida and Marilyn Huffman of Moon; and brother Fred Sullivan of Las Vegas.