Brian Sullivan:
CLASS OF 1980
Niles East High SchoolClass of 1980
Skokie, IL
Brian's Story
I don't know where the interests that were listed for me came from. I do some gardening and like dining out (who doesn't?), but those really play a very small part in my life now. My main interests are my family and friends, some of whom are pictured here. Although I have a chronic illness that nearly left me unable to walk, I have recovered to the point that I can be very active physically. Having lost that ability, and then being given a second chance, has meant that playing sports has become a tremendous source of positive energy for me, as well as a way of making more friends through the teams I play on.
I have practiced law for 21 years now, the last 19 of which have been in Burlington, VT where my wife, Lori, and I chose to relocate. This was a "lifestyle" choice (although Lori is originally from VT), and I have been generally happy with that choice. It has certainly allowed me more time with my family, which is huge. In other ways, it is not as satisfying as staying in Chicago would have been, but those ways are becoming less significant with the passage of time. One of the things that has made them less significant is the rise of the Internet (thank you Al Gore) and The Google (thank you George Bush), which have helped me stay in touch with friends and reconnect with others with whom I had lost touch.
We have three kids, Rachel (17), who is a senior in high school, Louis (14), a freshman and Maddie (9) who is in fourth grade. I could write a lot about what they do, but it would not do justice to who they are. Suffice it to say that they are all very different from one another, but all have very good character.
It is interesting to compare them at these very different ages to my recollection of how I was at the same ages. In general, I think my kids have it a lot better than I did in a lot of ways and am very happy about that.
What else to say? I like to write, as you can see. I have been fortunate enough to travel quite a bit, especially in Europe and Latin America. T...Expand for more
hose of you who knew me in high school would probably find that I am a lot more outgoing now. There are several reasons for that and little point going into explanations.
I had a great experience in college -- at the University of Chicago, to which I remain strongly devoted. The experiences I had there, the friends I made and what I learned about the world and myself were truly life-changing. In fact, I am in almost daily contact with several of those friends, almost 25 years since graudating. The one thing we share -- apart from having gotten the greatest education one could have -- is an appreciation for humor, sometimes, the sillier and more juvenile the better. After a long day with Plato, Descartes and Wittgenstein, you need (the equivalent of) the Simpsons, South Park and Beavis and Butthead.
I also thoroughly enjoyed living in Hyde Park and being a southsider, because I was a White Sox fan even when I grew up in Skokie. Someday, my wife and I plan to retire to Chicago (with global warming, it might be tropical by then), hopefully to a reinvigorated south side which, by then, will have hosted the 2016 Olympics.
I also attended Harvard Law School, which looks great on the resume and provides good name-dropping opportunities (like I have met Michelle Obama), but was not nearly as satisfying, either intellectually or socially. I do have some good friends from Harvard and it was in Boston that I met my wife and learned to speak Spanish (not from her). So, it wasn't all bad. I have finally joined the local Harvard club after all these years, but still don't feel anything like a "Harvard Man." To me, that will always be Thurston Howell, III of Gilligan's Island, and that's not me.
So, at this stage of my life, I am feeling very grateful for the gift of my restored health, my family and friends, having a good career in a place with a very good quality of life and now being able to reconnect with people from an earlier point in my life when I found making such connections difficult.
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Reunions
Photos
