Robert Sullivan

SARANAC LAKE - Robert Sullivan, a Saranac Lake native, died at the home he was born in on Wednesday, Oct. 26. He was cared for and surrounded by family and dear friends T.C. (Thomas) and Patricia Clark.

Born in 1930, he was one of nine children of Philip and Winifred Howard Sullivan.

He graduated from Saranac Lake High School and was the first Winter Carnival king in 1948 when the Carnival resumed after World War II. He obtained degrees from St. Bonaventure in 1952 and a master's degree in education in 1961. It is estimated that Bob had five master's degrees. He earned a master's in biology from the University of Colorado before going to the University of Alaska to teach. Bob also earned a master's in mathematics and was ABD ("all but dissertation") in mathematics at the University of Illinois (by which time he was tenured at the University of Alaska and didn't want to write a dissertation). During his first sabbatical, he earned a master's in computer science at the University of Vermont. He taught at the University of Alaska from the early 1960s until his retirement in 1987. The only property we know he owned, he won in the Alaska land lottery. Bob traveled south each winter, from Alaska to Saranac Lake.

Bob also served two years in the Army during the Korean era. He was a member of the American Legion Post 447. His passions were college basketball, ping-pong (in which he qualified for the seniors competition) and softball. He played softball with the Hoot Owls.

With Adirondack roots dating back to the late 1840s, a large extended family, generations deep and wide, survives. His siblings, together with their surviving spouses, are Elizabeth and Vincent Pelletieri, Philip "Hoot" Sullivan, Peter and Agnes Sullivan, Margaret Sullivan Campion (deceased), all of Saranac Lake, Winifred and Bertram Yorkey of San Jose, Calif., and Anne Loftis of Branford, Conn.

Nieces and nephews who survive him are the Pelletieris: Winifred, Philip, Elias, Vincent and Mary Agnes; the Campions: Margaret, John, Michael, George, Patrick and James; the Yorkeys: James, Joseph and Nancy (Keriotis); the John J. Sullivans: Philip, Anne (Galgano), Kathleen (Glahn), Timothy, Daniel, John Joseph and Elizabeth (Bevilacqua); the Loftises: Paul, James, Mark and David; and Peter Sullivan's son Thomas.

He was predeceased by his parents, Philip and Winifred Sullivan, and three siblings: Claire, John Joseph and Margaret Campion.

Family will receive friends from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 at the Fortune Keough Funeral Home in Saranac Lake. A veterans memorial service will take place at 5:45 p.m. at the funeral home, immediately followed by a memorial service.

Robert Sullivan's body has been donated to science at Albany Medical Center. In lieu of flowers, those wishing to remember Robert can donate in his memory to High Peaks Hospice.