Gerald Leo Sullivan was born at the Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain, August 2, 1943, to Eleanor and William Sullivan. He met and accepted challenges as a part of life and took a decisive role in the challenge that took his life. He died after a long battle with multiple myeloma on August 5.

A graveside service was held under the care of Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home at the Oak Grove Cemetery in Vineyard Haven on August 8.

At the cemetery, some who spoke of Gerry recounted stories told and heard hundreds of times, stories easily told and heard once more. Others offered unique perspectives of a man so well known to so many; cumulative narratives of one existence, mosaicked into a perfect view, freed from the distortion of a solitary observer.

Friends heard of him as a colleague, children of him as a child, family of him as family to a great many.

With eloquence, humor and sincerity, the tangible and intangible qualities that form a man’s life were spread before all, and for one afternoon, an afternoon which will stretch into each that follow, Gerald Sullivan was admired and loved openly and deeply by all who knew him.

Most of the days of his life occurred in and around Boston; a child growing up in Newton and Wellesley, Roxbury Latin School, two degrees from Harvard, raising a family in Jamaica Plain, almost four decades as a devoted educator in the Boston Public Schools, including as headmaster of the English High School, the oldest public high school in the country.

For all of it, though, Gerry really lived on Martha’s Vineyard. Over his 66 years, 62 summers were spent on the Island. A man of warm memories and friendships, he would spoke of a childhood at the St. Pierre Camp, delivering Coca-Cola during his college years, running the Second Story Cinema in Vineyard Haven and later in Oak Bluffs. Later was the Island Limousine Service, generating little money but many stories. He enjoyed good company and laughter, building a home with his wife and growing with his children in the waters of State Beach and the woods of West Tisbury.

Gerry leaves behind countless friends; his brothers, Robert, Richard and Lawrence, his wife, Martha, of 36 years; and his sons, Richard, David, Gerald and Daniel, all of whom will never forget the undying love shown them in their father’s dying eyes.

A second event celebrating Gerry’s life will be held in Boston at a later date. Donations to the MSPCA can be made in Gerry Sullivan’s memory, MSPCA, ATTN: Donations, 350 South Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02130.