Jeremiah D. Sullivan *64

Jeremiah Sullivan, a prominent retired professor of physics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, died July 7, 2016, at age 77.

Sullivan earned a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1960 from what is now Carnegie Mellon University, and in 1964 earned a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton. After working at the Stanford Linear Accelerator, in 1967 he became an associate professor of physics at Illinois. He became a full professor in 1973 and retired in 2006, while head of the physics department.

In 1974, Sullivan became a member of JASON, a scientific group that provided expert technical analyses to the U.S. government on scientific issues relevant to national security. In his early years, Sullivan made important contributions to particle physics, which earned him an international reputation.

Sullivan served on innumerable U.S. government, NATO, and academic committees on defense policy and arms control. He was a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and the AAAS. In 2000, he received the Leo Szilard Award of the APS for leadership in addressing complex and often controversial national security issues in a democratic society.

He is survived by Sheila, his wife of 54 years; two children; and one granddaughter.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.