History

Algernon Sydney Sullivan was a late nineteenth century New York lawyer who was a founding partner of the Sullivan Cromwell law firm, one of the preeminent law firms in the United States. He was a devout Christian man, an effective mediator, a powerful, compelling orator, a courageous citizen during perilous times, a noted philanthropist, and a devoted family man. He touched many people: street beggars, school children, powerful businessmen and politicians. With all he commanded affection and respect.

In 1890, three years after Sullivan’s death, a memorial committee (former President Grover Cleveland being among its 77 members) was established. The members charged themselves with keeping alive the exemplary traits of Algernon Sydney Sullivan. When their ranks began to thin, in the late 1920’s, they passed along the responsibility to the New York Southern Society of which Sullivan had been the first president. Each year the Society’s Algernon Sydney Sullivan Awards were given to deserving students at colleges and universities in the South. The Foundation took over this work from the Society in 1934.

Mary Mildred Sullivan, born and reared in Winchester, Virginia, was an extraordinary woman. She demonstrated remarkable strength and fortitude during the Civil War, as she was a young southern woman living in New York City – a person whose sympathies lay with the southern region and with her brothers fighting for the Confederacy. She crossed enemy lines on several occasions to bring comfort and nursing care to her relatives and family friends.

After the War, Mrs. Sullivan became a prominent person in New York civic, social, and philanthropic activities. As the years passed, while continuing to support New York City charities, she began to direct her philanthropic energies largely to establishing schools in the Appalachian region under the auspices of the Southern Industrial Educational Association. Mrs. Sullivan was an effective fundraiser for this cause. The prominence of the undertaking is illustrated by the fact that Mrs. Woodrow Wilson served on one of the fundraising committees. A few of those early schools matured into regional colleges that the Foundation now supports.

George Hammond Sullivan, the only child of Algernon and Mary Mildred Sullivan established the Foundation in 1934. Mr. Sullivan never married, and near the end of his life, being mindful that there would be no direct descendants, decided to establish the Foundation to perpetuate the estimable qualities and values of his mother and father. So although there are no direct descendants of Algernon and Mary Mildred Sullivan, there nonetheless are heirs – three and a half generations of scholarship and Award recipients across the South. Through these people, recognized for exemplary qualities of service, the Sullivans still live, still influence for good the lives of others.