Thomas J. Sullivan

Tom peacefully departed his earthly home on March 18th, 2019, to join our Heavenly Father and those loved ones who passed into eternal life before him.

Tom was born in Kansas City on January 9, 1932, to Edward T Sullivan and Marie Flanagan Sullivan. He attended Redemptorist grade school and graduated from Rockhurst High School with many lifelong friends in the class of 1949, who since have gathered regularly to celebrate and give thanks for the good fortune of their Catholic education, most recently on the third Thursday for lunch at the Sand Trap. Tom attended Rockhurst College until his junior year, when he welcomed the call to serve his country by enlisting in the US Coast Guard, where he spent 18 months sailing the seas around Alaska on the buoy tender USS Sedge.

Tom’s life was defined by his loving devotion to his faith, his beloved wife, Peggy, his family, and his friends. Upon his return to Kansas City in 1954, he joined his father and brothers in the family business, Sullivan Beverage Co. Inc. In 1956, he met his beloved, Margaret “Peggy” Buckley, and they married in Washington D.C. in 1957. They celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary last November. Tom and Peggy welcomed Tom, Lynn, Joe, Jim and Jack to their family and spent the next 20 years actively involved in their education and extracurricular activities. Tom enjoyed the years that he coached basketball at St. Thomas More. Tom and Peggy were members of St. Thomas More Parish for more than 50 years.

Tom especially enjoyed playing golf with Peggy, his children and his golf buddies. The Saint Jude Group, appropriately named after the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes, at Blue Hills Country Club became a passion of Tom’s every Thursday afternoon and Saturday. The St. Jude golfers were a terrific group of men that enjoyed 30 years of great golf and making lifelong friends. Tom and Peggy enjoyed couples golf at Blue Hills and vacation golf in Arizona and Florida.

Tom’s parents, brother Ed, son Joe and great grandson Quinn Joseph Kimminau embraced him at the gates Heaven. He is survived by Peggy, twin brother Bob, Tom Jr., Lynn, Jim, Jack, son-in-law Jay Reardon, and daughters-in-law, Amy O’Farrell Sullivan and Anne French Sullivan. He also leaves 11 grandchildren and two great-grandsons.

Tom’s life will be celebrated at a Mass of Christian Burial on March 31 at 2 p.m. at Curé of Ars Church, 9401 Mission Road, Leawood, KS 66209. Visitation will be held thereafter at the Church.