Jack Sullivan, center, receives the 2022 Ellen Pickering Environmental Excellence Award. Sullivan died Aug. 16 at the age of 90.
Jack Sullivan, a community activist and advocate for Alexandria's green spaces and waterways, died August 16. He was 90 years old.
A longtime citizen volunteer, Sullivan was the recipient of the 2022 Ellen Pickering Environmental Excellence Award and was named a Living Legend of Alexandria in 2023.
Sullivan spent decades protecting Alexandria’s natural resources and served on a variety of City commissions and advisory committees that significantly contributed to the protection of Alexandria’s open space and tree canopy.
Born John H. Sullivan on May 25, 1935, in Toledo, Ohio, Sullivan grew up observing his father, a dentist, helping the middle-class neighborhood where he was raised.
“My father was very much a civic activist,” Sullivan said in a 2023 interview. “I was paying attention to him and what he was doing. I learned from him the difference that one can make in a community.”
Educated in parochial schools, Sullivan served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and Ohio Air National Guard from 1959 to 1965. He began his professional career in 1959 as a newspaper reporter for the Springfield Ohio Sun and the then Milwaukee Sentinel. He moved to Washington in 1961 as an aide to Rep. Clement J. Zablocki of Wisconsin and joined the Foreign Affairs Committee as a staff consultant in 1969.
Sullivan was active in legislative initiatives of the 1970s, including heading the House staff on SALT I arms control legislation, economic aid to wartime Vietnam, implementation of the Sinai Accords, and passage of the War Powers Act. In 1976 he was named Deputy Chief of Staff of the Committee.
Sullivan served as a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations General Assembly session in 1973, and in 1976 was with the first Congressional staff group to visit China.
In 1977 he was chosen by the newly-elected Carter Administration to manage the transition process at USAID and subsequently selected to head its Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. In 1978 he was awarded the Agency’s Superior Honor Award for “outstanding leadership in the areas of equal opportunity and affirmative action,” for his appointment of women and minorities to executive positions.
Following his tenure with the Carter Administration, Sullivan turned to consulting, which allowed him more time to focus on issues closer to home in Alexandria.
“Jack Sullivan provided so many Alexandrians with an example of what it means to be a civic activist,” said Seminary Hill resident Carter Flemming. “He was someone who was involved in such an incredible range of issues throughout his life. Those of us in Seminary Hill were so lucky to call him one of our own, but his concern for all in our city extended far beyond our civic association boundaries.”
Sullivan served as chair of the Cable Television Commission, where he widened public affairs broadcasts to cover important city meetings that are now taken for granted, such as the Planning Commission meetings. Sullivan’s vision brought new transparency to city government.
He served on the HIV-AIDS Taskforce in the 80s and also chaired the committee to select Alexandria’s first Poet Laureate in 2007. He served on 11 various boards and commissions.
Sullivan was a volunteer curator and cataloguer for the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum's collection of artifacts and served as a volunteer cataloguer and transcriber for a Civil War diary for the Alexandria Library. A long-time member of the Seminary Hill Association board, Sullivan twice served as president and was treasurer for many years. He also served as a member and co-chair of the Alexandria Federation of Civic Associations.
Two of his signature accomplishments were centered on environmental issues: The creation of Boothe and Brenman parks, and the expansion of the Combined Sewer Outfalls project.
Sullivan was a member of the Citizen Advisory Group on the Conversion of Cameron Station from 1988-1995. While the city focused on adding more than a thousand housing units on the site, Sullivan and Col. Ben Brenman focused on the need to provide open space for the new residents. They obtained concessions from the original plan to create both Boothe and Brenman parks.
In 2017, Sullivan was appointed as a member of the Combined Sewer System Stakeholder Advisory Group II to consider the state mandate that the city cease polluting the Potomac River with sewage overflow when it rains.
While the state originally mandated that Alexandria remediate three of the city’s four outfalls, and the Advisory Group endorsed that plan to City Council, Sullivan wrote a minority report which argued that the fourth outfall at Oronoco Bay, the largest source of pollution into the river, should be included in the project to end the pollution that has been discharging into the Potomac for over a century.
Sullivan’s report caught the attention of Virginia State Senator Scott Surovell, who brought it to the state legislature. The state ultimately passed a bill mandating that the city fix all four outfalls by 2025.
Sullivan earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in journalism from Marquette University and a doctorate in international relations/political science from the American University. The university bestowed its Distinguished Alumni Award on him in 1976 and again in 1979.
Sullivan is survived by his wife Paula, their two sons, John and Brian, and one granddaughter. He was an active member of Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Arlington.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
“Jack was never afraid to take a stand on an issue when he felt the city could or should do better,” added Flemming. “His courage to stand up and speak up will remain a lasting legacy for those of us who were privileged to work with him.”