Barbara Ann Pickard SULLIVAN

BARBARA ANN PICKARD SULLIVAN It is with great sadness the family announces the passing of Barbara Ann Pickard Sullivan. She left us peacefully on her 78th birthday, Sunday, January 24, 2021, at the Emmanuel House Hospice in Hamilton after a brief battle with cancer. Barbara was a remarkable person. She attended Munn's one room schoolhouse in Oakville, later teaching Sunday School at Munn's United Church. In her youth, she was an active member of 4-H and won many awards for showing the family's sheep and Holstein cattle across Canada and beyond. Barbara studied journalism at Carleton University, where she edited the student newspaper and was active in the Canadian University Press. Her first job was a reporter for the Toronto Telegram where she covered community life and local events. In her early professional life, she was a public affairs consultant advising on communications strategy. Barbara served as the principal secretary and chief of staff to the Treasurer of Ontario, the Right Honorable Robert Nixon, during the early 1980s. This experience led to a successful campaign to become Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament in the riding of Halton Centre. She served for two consecutive governments from 1987 to 1995 under Premier David Peterson and in opposition under Premier Bob Rae. During Barbara's first term she chaired the government caucus, chaired the Select Committee on Energy, and was Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labour. During her last term Barbara was the official Opposition Critic for the Environment, followed by three years as the official Opposition Critic for Health and a member of the Board of Internal Economy. Her children still giggle about the time she was escorted out of the Legislature by the burly Sargeant-at-Arms, all five feet of her, for a rare but feisty Parliamentary intervention. Following her time as MPP, Barbara became a member of the Board of Directors of the Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation, and subsequently Chair of the Board. At the same time, Barbara was the Chair of the Health Professions Regulatory Advisory Council which did extensive research and annually advised the Minister of Health on matters related to the regulation of the health professions in Ontario. In the last decade, Barbara was a Vice Chair and Director of Ontario's Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority, a Governor of Mohawk College, Director of the Bay Area Health Trustee Corporation, and Director and Treasurer of the Ontario Association of Former Parliamentarians. She was also a frequent speaker at universities, health systems and public affairs conferences. Barbara was a person of wide-ranging interests. She served as director and vice-chair of Bird Studies Canada for over a decade, board member of Parks Canada and of Oaklands Regional Centre, a residential facility serving developmentally disabled adults. She was Chair of the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts, a patron of Sheridan College's Performing Arts program, and Commissioner and Acting Chair of the Commission on Election Finances in Ontario. Barbara also represented Canada as a United Nations Presidential Election Observer in Slovakia in 1999. Barbara was an avid gardener, recently granted a Trillium award from the city of Hamilton for her home gardens. She read voraciously. Barbara was a talented miniaturist, constructing numerous dollhouses of her own designs. She also enjoyed sewing, needlepoint, knitting, and cooking food that was inspired by her extensive travel around the world. Barbara was the cherished wife of Jordan Gerard Sullivan and beloved mother to Anne Michele Thompson (Vince), Sandra Sullivan Keeley, Elspeth Gibson (Blake), and Jordan Sullivan (Alexandra). She will be missed by her sisters, Kathleen (Bill), Shirley (Bill), Janessa (John). Predeceased by brother, Russell (Elaine). Her six grandchildren, Annie, Parker, Ainsley, Waverly, Zoe and Jasper will miss her smile, her nifty jokes, and her wonderful musical birthday cards. Her Sullivan family and many nieces and nephews will also miss her unwavering energy and joie de vivre. Respecting the current pandemic restrictions, a celebration of her life will occur at a later date. As expressions of sympathy, donations in her honour may be made to 4-H Canada: https://4-h-canada.ca/donate or Hamilton Health Sciences: https://hamiltonhealth.ca/donate/.