Sullivan, Edward J. August 23, 1936 - July 2, 2023

Edward James Sullivan, devoted husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, peacefully departed this life on July 2, 2023.

The third of five children born to Irish immigrants John and Nora (Healy) Sullivan on August 23rd, 1936, in Bronx, New York, Eddie was raised in the Pelham Bay/Country Club section of the Bronx, and educated at Our Lady of Assumption Elementary School. He attended Power Memorial High School on the West Side of Manhattan, where he was a star pitcher on the baseball team, graduating in 1954. From there, he matriculated at Manhattan College’s School of Engineering, paying his way through school by way of a series of jobs, including night school gym teacher and beer delivery truck driver. He graduated in 1958 with a degree in civil engineering.

At a Friday night dance sponsored by the local Irish club in the Bronx, he met Josephine McShane of the Clason Point section of the Bronx, an administrative assistant at McCall’s magazine.  They were married at St. Clare of Assisi Church on January 14, 1961.

After a year’s army service, Eddie was hired as a civil engineer for the New York Central Railroad, overseeing the rebuilding of their West Side piers.  Thereafter, he worked for the New York City Housing Authority, building public housing in Manhattan and the Bronx.  Eventually, he was hired by HRH Construction Company as an assistant project superintendent.  HRH would eventually become one of the busiest construction companies in New York City, with Ed serving as its top project manager and senior vice president.

Josephine and Eddie bought their first home on Rawlins Avenue in the Country Club section of the Bronx in 1963, where he and Josephine began raising their five children.  The large family moved to the Crestwood section of Yonkers in the spring of 1973, where the family became longtime members of Annunciation Parish and the children enrolled in the Annunciation School. Eddie served the Parish as a Eucharistic minister, church usher, and member of the finance and building committees. As chairman of the Parish building committee, he oversaw renovations to the school, church and convent buildings for more than a decade.  In the summers, he would make the commute several times per week to the family summer home in Highland Lakes, NJ to join Josephine and the children, who spent the entire summer from late June to Labor Day there.

Eddie’s construction project assignments for HRH grew with importance over the years, and he left his mark on the New York City skyline.  After lower Manhattan’s Verizon building and the Louis Armstrong Stadium at the National Tennis Center in Flushing, he oversaw the conversion of the old Commodore Hotel on 42nd Street into the Grand Hyatt, under the watchful eye and strongly expressed opinions of the owner, Donald Trump (Eddie was often called upon to mediate decorating disputes between Mr. & Mrs. Trump).  From 1980 to 1986, he served in the newly created position of Project Director for the construction of the building with the largest footprint in New York City history, the Jacob Javits Convention Center.  He ultimately capped off his 40-year career with HRH as Project Director for the AOL-Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, the tallest structure in New York above 58th Street.

Eddie finally retired at the end of 2008 after 40 years with HRH, at the age of 72.  Unfortunately, the full enjoyment of his retirement was curtailed by the onset of Alzheimer’s in his late 70s, but he accepted the care of his family and caregivers, often with a smile and a wink.  The family wishes to express their sincere thanks to his long-time, dear caregivers, Veronica Rodney and Pat Thomas Mitchell.

While seemingly taciturn in professional settings, or large groups, Ed thoroughly enjoyed the intimacy of gatherings with his friends and family.  Whether navigating around Europe with Josephine and their favorite traveling companions, or sitting on his back patio with old friends and good cigars, he made his precious time away from the construction sites count.  He was devoted to Josephine and his children, and nothing could bring out his wide Irish smile like his grandchildren.

Eddie was predeceased by Josephine (2022), his parents and brothers (Tommy, John and Joey), his daughter, Baby Mary Sullivan, and his granddaughter, Allie Sullivan.  He is survived by his sister Maureen; daughters Mary Jane Michalak (Joseph) and Jennifer Rose (Matthew); sons Danny (Kathryn), Peter (Alexandra), and John (Oleida); grandchildren Matthew Sullivan (Ryann), Terrence Michalak (Cameron), Denis Michalak (Courtney), Elena Sullivan, Maggie Sullivan, Julia Michalak, Jacques Sullivan, Joseph Michalak, Andrew Sullivan, David Sullivan, Emma Sullivan, Kiera Rose and Lilianna Rose; great-grandchildren Nolan Michalak, Connor and Rory Sullivan, and Charlotte and Hailey Michalak.

In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests that donations be sent to the Alzheimer’s Association, https://act.alz.org/site/Donation2.