Leo J. "Bear" Sullivan, a two-term member of the ISBA Assembly and past chair of the ISBA Mutual Insurance company, passed away on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011. Mr. Sullivan was born on Aug. 16, 1934 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Reared in East St. Louis, he graduated from Central Catholic High School in 1952, and recently attended his graduating class's 50th reunion. While attending St. Louis University he clerked for two separate Police Magistrates in E. St. Louis. He graduated from St. Louis University Law School in 1958 with a J.D. degree and was admitted to the Illinois and Missouri Bars the same year.
The same year he joined the United States Navy and was commissioned in 1959 after completing OCS in Newport, Rhode Island. His first assignment as a Legal Officer was to the USNS Kodiak, Alaska where he served as the legal officer to that command and others.
In September of 1960 he was transferred to the Administrative Command at Great Lakes, where he was in charge of the Courts Martial Unit and later acted as the Appellate Review Officer. In late 1960 he worked part time, nights and weekends, for Snyder, Clarke, Dalziel, Holmquist and Johnson in Waukegan. When released from active duty in March of 1962 he became a member of the firm. In 1967 he was made a partner.