SEAN WALSH/CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Richard Sullivan
CHATHAM – A longtime Cape Cod Community College dean who also served as president and commissioner of the Cape Cod Baseball League has died.
Richard Sullivan of Chatham, who passed away early Friday morning after a lengthy illness, was 84.
Sullivan began his tenure as Dean of Students in August, 1970, just as the community college was moving into its West Barnstable campus. He served in that role until his retirement in 1999.
Prior to arriving on Cape Cod, Sullivan was a dean at Hofstra University in New York.
Cape Cod Community College spokesman Michael Gross said, “He arrived on campus pretty much the day we opened the West Barnstable campus here. . . .and in many ways is responsble for much of the programming that we have here today for students, our veterans services, our returning adults services, even our services for students with learning disabilites–an incredible legacy here.”
Cape Cod Community College President John Cox stated, “Cape Cod Community College is deeply saddened to learn this morning of the passing of Emeritus Dean of Students, Dick Sullivan. Dean Sullivan opened our campus at its current location in 1970 and retired in 1999. I’ve come to truly appreciate his impact from the heart-felt comments of our faculty and staff members and friends who have shared their remembrances of his deep commitment to all of ‘his’ students. Dean Sullivan’s legacy remains in many programs that continue today, touching the lives of many of our students. Our thoughts are with his family.”
The college’s Education Foundation President Kathy McNamara said, “The passing of Dick Sullivan is, indeed, a very sad day for us. In addition to his role as Dean of Students, Dick was instrumental, with Grace and Bernard Grossman of Nantucket, in leading the effort to bolster the College during the state’s severe financial crisis in the early 1990s. His commitment to the financial security of this institution was as deep as his commitment to his students. Each year, we are very proud to award the Richard J Sullivan scholarship, in his honor. It is a very appropriate legacy for the many decades of his service here.”
Sullivan also spent 40 years volunteering in the Cape League and more than four decades leading the Cape Cod Chapter of the March of Dimes, which conducts research into birth defects and pre-natal care.
SEAN WALSH/CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Cape League president and commissioner Dick Sullivan, seen here at the inaugural Cape League Hall of Fame induction Ceremony at the Chatham Bars Inn in 2000 with Cape League President Judy Walden Scarafile and the late Fred Ebbett.
Cape Cod Baseball League President Judy Scarafile said, “If anyone could have been called the mayor of Cape Cod, it would have been Dick. He touched so many lives. He was active in so many aspects of our community.”
Scarafile said Sullivan occupies a special place in the history of the Cape League. “He was the only person who has been a commissioner and a president, and that’s remarkable,” she said.
There was a personal connection to the March of Dimes for Sullivan. He would often talk about how his daughter, Lisa, and son, Richard Jr., were both helped by March of Dimes-related research when they were born.
Sullivan was also instrumental in starting the WE CAN organization in Harwich Port, which helps empower women through education, and was a Corporator of Cape Cod Hospital.
His numerous honors over the years included National Volunteer of the Year by the March of Dimes Foundation, induction into the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame, Volunteer of the Year by the Planned Giving Council of Cape Cod and the Service Above Self Award by the Hyannis Rotary Club, among many others.
Sullivan also had a passion for athletics and played in the senior softball circuit into his late 70s.
Funeral arrangements were not yet complete as of Friday morning.
