Sullivan Memorial Scholarship, 1984

Unitrust gift to fund Sullivan memorial scholarship

Thomas Sullivan, an Oak Brook resident, has made a generous gift of stock valued at approximately $51,000 to Illinois Benedictine College.  Sullivan, former director of the Institute of Management at IBC and long time friend of the college, has created a charitable remainder unitrust by transferring appreciated stock to the college.  This gift will ultimately endow a scholarship fund for students in severe financial need, according to David Bow, director of planned giving.  The scholarship will be named in memory of his late wife, Margaret Mary Sullivan.

"The charitable unitrust allows the donor to make a substantial gift to IBC while retaining the income from the transferred property of life," Bow explained.  "The income payments may be sent to the donor or to whomever the donor specifies.  The donor benefits from the unitrust because he or she is able to realize the satisfaction of doing good for others by giving."

At the same time, the unitrust guarantees that needed income will continue to be paid for life.  This give the donor the opportunity to make very substantial commitments to the programs he or she is interested in at IBC.

The donor is also benefited by receiving income tax advantages, Bow said. The gift creates a charitable deduction against income taxes which yield significant tax savings.  If the donor transfers appreciated stock or bonds to a unitrust, capital gains taxes also are avoided.

"Mr. Sullivan's generous contribution will do great good for future students at IBC.  This opportunity to invest in quality education is appropriate for many donors," Bow said. ...


The Illinois Benedictine Magazine, April, 1984 page 2
Copy of article from Helen McIntyre's Album "Clippings and Stuff."

Tom's Retirement and Illinois Benedictine College

Excerpt from Thomas A. Sullivan's Memories, March 4, 1994.

Oak Brook and I. B. C.

"During my time in Washington [D.C.] in 1971, Margaret was investigating and decided on Oak Brook, IL, as the place to retire to.  We bought a villa in a community called Chambord and moved there.  I was named to the board of the Oak Brook Chamber of Commerce.

"I had an old friend who lived in Chambord and was chairman of The Board of Governors of Illinois Benedictine College.  He arranged for me to go on the President's staff as a consultant for industry contacts. The college had a doormat industrial training program and I was asked to take it over.  My masters degree from Marquette qualified me to be on the faculty to head up this activity.  We settled on a salary to be held in escrow for the grandchildren's tuition.  John and Bill graduated, Joe attended a couple of years and went to Marquette. The program was very successful for a few years.  It was an evening program tailored for industrial supervisors and carried two credit hours per subject.  However, the proliferation of M. B. A. programs and the lowering of standards began to attract our potential students to other programs.  Margaret died in 1972 and I saw the MBA competition's handwriting on the wall and resigned."

Thomas A. Sullivan, Obituary and Poem 1996

Tom died on July 11, 1996 after undergoing open-heart surgery. As his grandson, John, said in response to realizing his grandfather lived to be 88: "It might have been more if he did not go for that surgery which he elected for.  If it was “broke” he always wanted things fixed."
  
The following obituary was pasted in his sister Helen's scrapbook next to a poem she wrote upon hearing that Tom had died. Newspaper unknown, but probably Venice, Florida, date unknown.

Thomas A. Sullivan
Thomas A. Sullivan, 88, Venice, died July 11, 1996.
He was born July 7, 1908 in Chicago and came to the Venice area 11 years ago from Oak Brook, Ill. An engineer registered with the state of Illinois, he was past director of the Institute for Management at Illinois Benedictine College and past vice president and division general manager at A. O. Smith Corp. He graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology with an engineering degree and from Marquette University with a master's degree in economics. He was volunteer treasurer for the Friends of the Library of Jacaranda, and a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.
Survivors include his wife, Lorraine Evinger; a son, Thomas D. of Country Club Hills, Ill.; a sister, Helen McIntyre of Chicago; three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
The funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Burial will be private. Farley Funeral Home, Venice Chapel, is in charge.

A second death notice was pasted in another of Helen McIntyre's scrapbooks.  Although no newspaper is noted, I believe it is from a Chicago newspaper, probably the Chicago Tribune.

Sullivan - Thomas A. Sullivan, age 88, formerly of Oak Brook, died July 11, in Venice, FL.  An engineer registered with the State of Illinois, he was past Director of the Institute for Management at Illinois Benedictine College and past President and Division General Manager at A. O. Smith Corp. He graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology with an engineering degree and from Marquette University with a Masters degree in economics.  Survivors include his wife Lorraine; a son Thomas, a sister, Helen McIntyre; three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.  A memorial mass will be held on Sept 28 at 11 a.m. in the Abbey at Illinois Benedictine College.

TOM - GONE JULY 11, 1996
You always were my Hero
You were the wind beneath my Wings!

I miss you Tom -- I miss your calls
And I really miss seeing you
You were always interested in what I did
And you always said, "What's new?"
You seemed to move from here to there
So we didn't see much of each other
But I have to say just one thing
I'm so glad you were my brother!
(Helen McIntyre, 1996)

Photo of Thomas A. Sullivan c late 1950s