Thomas G. Sullivan

Talking About the Family
If you got to talking with Thomas G. Sullivan about his two young sons or his wife, Deirdre, his high school sweetheart and the "rock" of his life, as one friend said, chances are you would find yourself on the telephone for a long time. "You could walk off the phone, make yourself a cup of coffee and he'd still be talking about them," said Aidan Whitehead, a close friend who once worked for Mr. Sullivan, known as Tommy, a stockbroker who was a partner at Harvey Young Yurman.

As much as Mr. Sullivan, 38, who was having a breakfast meeting on Sept. 11 at Windows on the World with several colleagues from his company, thought and talked about his family, he still had plenty of room in his mind for others. He had an uncanny ability to remember faces, names and important dates. "And once he met somebody, he was their friend forever," Mr. Whitehead said.

Mr. Sullivan, an avid jazz drummer, was game for just about anything and a quick study. Mr. Whitehead, who is Irish, once brought Mr. Sullivan an Irish drum, called a bodhran, to hang on his wall. "He had no interest in hanging it on the wall," Mr. Whitehead said. "He had never played one before, but soon enough he was the best bodhran player I'd ever heard."


Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on October 23, 2001.


Thomas G. Sullivan, 38, all things Irish Thomas G. Sullivan began his Wall Street career while in high school and pursued it vigorously, but he also found time to enjoy three other passions: his Irish heritage, modern art and golf.

To celebrate those interests, the Kearny resident took his family on a two-week trip to Ireland in July. There, the family attended a traditional Irish wedding, walked the Druid ruins in County Clare -- and he played a lot of golf.

Back in the United States, Mr. Sullivan and his wife, Diedre, scoured antique shops along the Jersey Shore for painting treasures. Just 38, Mr. Sullivan hoped to retire in about five years to pursue his interest in modern art full time, his wife said.

On Sept. 11, Mr. Sullivan, a partner in a brokerage firm, was having breakfast with six colleagues at Windows on the World atop the World Trade Centers North Tower when a hijacked jetliner crashed into the building.

Among Mr. Sullivans colleagues at the table was his brother-in-law, Patrick Dickinson of Morganville. None escaped.

He loved his job," said his wife. A member of the New York Stock Exchange, Mr. Sullivan was a partner in Harvey, Young and Yurman Inc. of New York.

A 1980 graduate of St. Peters Preparatory School in Jersey City, Mr. Sullivan inherited a love for the financial world from his father, also a Wall Street trader. The young Mr. Sullivan worked on Wall Street during high school summers and began full time there at 20.

He reached for, and achieved, his career goal, his wife said.

He pretty much attained it: a partner in his own company and a seat on the Exchange," she said.

While not at work, Mr. Sullivan enjoyed playing drums in jazz bands with friends, many of them business partners. He also organized fund-raisers for physically disabled youngsters.

Anything he had an interest in, his whole heart was in it," said Aidan Whitehead of Danville, Calif.

He was very keen on his Irish ancestry," Whitehead said. The trip to Ireland was put off several times when family responsibilities interfered, but came together at last, he said.

Studying art was on the horizon, his wife said. Mr. Sullivan talked about retiring early and mentioned possibly attending the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, his wifes alma mater.

The couple met at a Valentines Day dance while in high school. He was a sophomore at St. Peters Prep and she a freshman at St. Dominics Academy in Jersey City. They began dating right away and married in April 1990.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Sullivan is survived by two sons, Dermot and Conor; his sister, Norene Sullivan of North Arlington; and his mother, Arlene Sullivan of Kearny.

His father, Thomas M. Sullivan, died in 2000.

A Celebration of Life Mass will be offered at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Stephens Church, Kearny. The selection of the date, the day before St. Patricks Day, was deliberate, his wife said.