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The Legacy of Gary SullivanMemories from Family and Friends |
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I appreciated his energy,
humor, and brilliance in "all things computer". I will especially
remember with great fondness our brief time together in Honolulu last
year. I will really miss him.
~ Alan Mikuni 7/14/10
I have nothing but fond memories of him. His zest for computers and
electronics is something I admired about him as well as something I
teased him about! He always went the extra mile for me when I needed
something done and he did so with such excitement and the need to "show
me how he did it".
I will never forget his East Coast accent, his laugh, and him talking
to someone in his very animated way.
~ Cindy Myers 7/14/10
Cindy, you put down in words all that I have been reflecting on
today. His enthusiasm and animation... is the first thing I noticed in
meeting him for the first time, which was at the first NMD Facilities
and Telecommunications TEM in Reston. I feel so blessed to have known him, and
extremely saddened to have lost him.
~ Deborah Clavel 7/14/10
I too remember the first time I met Gary in person. It was at our
NMD SA TEM in Menlo Park. Remember when he showed us his
state-of-the-art RV? He was so proud of it. The RV had all the latest
gizmos in it. :) I also remember how friendly he was to all the
attendees at the TEM. It was almost as though he was Mr. Hospitality
for the Menlo meeting.
I will miss him.
~ Linda K, Peng 7/14/10
I remember that! It was out in the parking lot.... It expanded in
the living area... pretty cool. After that, whenever I saw a big 'ol RV
on the road, I'd think of him. I always will....
~ Deborah Clavel 7/14/10
I too have some very fond memories of my start at the USGS and Gary.
As Gary advanced to new job opportunities, he often would pass the
baton to me. I remember those TEM meeting fondly too. One in particular
was back at Reston. Gary and I took off at night and drove to DC. Gary
was my tour guide, and left the image in my mind of the Washington
Monument on a spring\summer day (A very patriotic memory). The USGS is
a family to me, and Gary helped create that atmosphere.
~ Ken Brass 7/14/10
Gary had the ability to find the humorous in the mundane and he
would always let you in on the joke too. He made going to work and
being at work as fun as working at the toy store. Always quick with a
laugh and forever curious about almost everything, he would animate you
with his enthusiasm. I will miss Gary. He cared
enough about everyone to share his love of learning with whoever asked
or didn't ask.
~ Bob Sowders 7/15/10
One of my favorite comments that Gary made was the one about people
working from home with fuzzy, bunny rabbit slippers. Whenever we talked
about working from home, he would come back with a big smile and say
that he could be working with his feet up, in his pajamas and his
fuzzy, bunny rabbit slippers and his cup of coffee. Whenever someone
says they are working from home, I get this image in my mind.
My kids were quite upset when they heard about Gary. He took a
special interest in kids and spent time with all 3 of mine. Sarah
actually volunteered at the USGS and worked with Gary for a full week
during a school break, labeling network cables with Gary and Amy
Hirota. Daniel told me that Gary is the person who sparked his interest
in computers. Rachel remembers him with fond memories. Gary was
enthusiastic about the child care center (GeoKids) we started in Menlo
Park, even before Gary came to work at the Survey. In his previous job
he worked for a French company and he came to the Mapping Center to
repair our Matra Traster instruments. He would stop by the map sales
office, where I worked at the time, to talk and get excited about maps.
When he discovered that I was also selling fund raising items for the
child care center, he tried to buy just about everything we had (over
time).
And yes, he found humor in most everything and shared that humor
with everybody. Gary managed to touch everyone in one way or
another.
~ Lore Winterman-Sturm 7/15/10
My favorite Garyism was "goopies." This pertained to any additional
items/code/etc that a person was thinking about loading onto their
computer, that may not need to be there.
It is very appropriate that we are sharing our thoughts
electronically. I am sure that he would get a kick out of that.
Great guy, very imaginative, and a character.
I can truly say one of a kind. In the very best way.
~ Larry Gaffney 7/15/10
Gary will always be in my heart....such a nice fella. I will miss
him very much.
~ Marcella Bonaldi 7/16/10
To All Who Knew Gary,
When I look back at these photos it is very difficult to come to
grips with the fact that our dear friend Gary has left us. When I saw
the first e-mail come in last weekend I stopped in my tracks and said
Oh No this can't be. I printed out the e-mail and showed it to my 15
yr. old daughter, Liza, and had her read it and she said Oh No! Then
she said, Dad, are you OK? Well, I was not not OK. I was overcome with
emotion and trying to keep it together. You see Gary was quite special
in my book and in my household. After working at the USGS together for
many years we established quite a close bond. In the latter years, and
especially after many of us were no longer working at the USGS, Gary
used to come over to the house and we used to have guys night tinkering
with our computers. I have a bit of a complex network in my house with
quite a few components and Gary used to love to troubleshoot and tinker
with it. He would bring over all his diagnostic tools and my wife, Deb,
would throw on some dinner, we would crack open a beer, and Gary would
be in his element. After numerous visits he got to know Deb and Liza
quite well so when we heard the news we were all quite touched.
From early on he amazed me with his computer knowledge and how
quickly he picked up techno concepts. It appeared to me that he could
just look at computer components and somehow understand how they
worked. It was obvious to me very early on that he was an asset that
the USGS definitely wanted to have around. That coupled with his crazy
humor and his always willing to help attitude will always be ingrained
in our minds.
We have all lost a dear friend and he will be greatly missed.
~ Bob Marinaro 7/16/10
God saw you getting tired and a cure was not to be.
So He put His arms around you and whispered "come to me."
With tearful eyes we watched you, and saw you pass away.
Although we loved you dearly, we could not make you stay.
A golden heart stopped beating, hard working hands at rest.
God broke our hearts to prove to us, He only takes the best.
~ Robert Pelletier 7/16/10
Gary, a true friend to all of us. We will miss you dearly!
~ Robert Marinaro 7/16/10
Peace, Gary. You're ok now. Goodbye, cousin, geek, wizard, and above
all, amazing friend.
~ Paul Siegmund 7/16/10
Rest in Peace, dear Gary. You will be so missed! I know there is a
special place in heaven for you where you'll get to inspire Apple
engineers to create really cool stuff and help all of us figure out our
computer challenges. In between, you'll be watching over Connie and
your family and friends and training a whole new generation of Love
Weasels!
~ Susan MacCaul Siegmund 7/16/10
Mr Gary,
A Honorary English Gentleman and a much loved, cherished and missed
friend.
You may have gone from our in boxes but not our hearts.
I would like to extend my families love, wishes and support to all
of Gary friends and family at this very sad time. Together with the
love and memories that is Gary legacy we can make this a better
place.
xx
~ Julie Burns 7/17/10
Many thanks to whomever was responsible for bringing Gary into the
Survey family. The Amiga was his window to the world when he joined us,
but he soon developed into a go-to-man for a wide variety of IT issues
and played an important role in enabling and maintaining our
connectivity.
He was truly a geek and happily and patiently interacted with any
and all to solve their problems.
~ Joe Wallace 7/17/10
Gary was a dear great friend to our family and he will be missed
very much.
~ Monica Aitken and my family 7/18/10
Dearest Uncle Gary, You will be missed by many; the only comfort we
have is that we were blessed enough to have had you for a short time in
our lives...
~ Donna Kelly 7/18/10
Hey Gary, me and the family are missing you dearly and our thoughts are
with you, your family and friends. I played my first football (soccer)
match for that cham who are a semi proffesional team. We played against
an American team from California. We won the game 4-0 and I scored :)
which I dedicated to you. I am so glad you were part of my life. Miss you
so much and love you ♥
~ Lewis Ian Burns 7/18/10
You are so missed dear friend! We have lost a hero. RIP, you lit up
our world when you were around. You will always be here in our hearts!
~ Patti Johnston 7/21/10
Words cannot convey what a great friend Gary have been to me all
these years. Because of Gary, I learned networking, cabling, setting up
cpu's, helping Gary buy computer equipment/parts on my way to work by
stopping by at Fry's in the mornings. To this day, I still go to Fry's
to have my morning coffee on the days I don't babysit. I remember
redlining his email compositions for spelling errors and he would laugh
because the whole page was marked red! Gary was brilliant in the
technical field and I was brilliant being a secretary. I would rather
have been like Gary, though. Gary touched so many people's lives and
really made an impact!
~ Amy Hirota 7/25/10
Gary was a delightful friend and colleague and a joy to have
known.
~ Alan Mikuni 7/28/10
Gary loved sharing information and relating his experiences with
others. I had the pleasure of working with Gary at the USGS for many
years. He was my main IT guy and was especially instrumental and
helpful when I was the head of the Information Dissemination Section in
the NGTOC 4 (and its earlier incarnations). Gary was always willing to
take the extra time to answer my questions in a way that I could
understand. We were starting up some complex IT capabilities in
connection with the National Map Viewer and he was instrumental in our
success. He always made sure that we had what we needed, and he worked
exceptionally well with me and my staff. He cared very much about the
standards and reputation of the USGS and made sure that everything was
set up and conducted properly.
On a more personal level, Gary helped me out with information for my
computers at home. He was very patient and interested in helping me
understand computers and networks. He was also very kind and helpful to
my son Andy when he would occasionally stop by the office. Andy
remembers that Gary was the one to introduce him to Google so many years
ago. Andy would always stop by to say a quick hello to Gary when he
visited me. Many adults never take the time to really talk to a kid and
Andy thought Gary was someone special. And so did I. I was so glad that
Gary decided to move to Hawaii and follow his dreams. He was willing to
take risks and wanted to live life to its fullest. I'm just sorry that
he didn't have many more years to enjoy life. I will miss him greatly.
~ Sean Stone 8/16/10
Gary retired from the Survey in 2006 as a Computer Scientist. I
personally remember he would help me with the ESIC computers long after
everyone had gone home. He was a friend to all who knew him.
~ Glenn Ireland 8/16/10
Gary left us much too early. Gary was a very unique person and very
special to many of us who knew him well. Every time I see some cutting
edge Apple news my first reaction is to e-mail it to Gary. In fact, his
last e-mail to me was from his newly purchased iPad that he was so
excited about.
We will all miss him greatly and it will take a some time to heal,
but we all need to celebrate his life and remember the meaningful way
he touched us all.
~ Bob Marinaro 8/17/10
I can't quite make myself believe that things have changed and Gary
won't call me up one day and give me his usual good natured hard
time.
~ Lore Winterman-Sturm 8/17/10
There are no words that anyone can express the shock, sadness and
great loss at this time, but as everyone says time is a great healer,
when that time will be...No one has the answer, but I know that by
talking about our loss with people that knew Gary will be of a great
comfort, it is helping us.
Gary left us all with a huge wealth of love and respect for each
other which is beyond any friendship, and it is his legacy that we are
all there for each other in the good and bad times.
Both myself and David are finding it a huge struggle to fill the
void that has been left. We miss the impromptu phone calls asking us to
go on Skype to chat the hours away, the emails and the future plans etc.
The list is endless but no one will ever be able to take his love and
memories from any of his Friends and family, which is a great
comfort.
I remember David asking me over to his house to meet his best friend
from the USA, being as shy as I am this was a massive deal for me, so
off I went. To say I was embarrassed is an understatement but the ice
breaker was Gary talking about Ferrets and how people in the USA were
having them as pets, to which I replied "oh I have two of them" I know
that he did not believe me as no sooner had I said this we were in a
car so I could show Gary, that was the start of our friendship. One that
I am still to this day very proud of and cherish every second and
memory.
~ Julie Burns 8/28/10