Jack Sullivan ’59, MBA ’76, knows something about investing. He used skills acquired as an SCU undergraduate accounting major and graduate business student to co-found the San Francisco investment firm Harris Bretall Sullivan & Smith, noted for its socially responsible investments. And while he was studying here, the University invested in him, offering $3,600 in academic and service scholarships. Now Sullivan is returning quite a dividend: He and his wife, Joan, are donating $3 million to fund a new aquatics center on campus.
“Opportunities to do something meaningful are like great investments—they’re hard to come by,” said Sullivan, when the donation was made public in October. Sullivan points out that if you took the $3,600 scholarship sum and compounded it over 50 years at 15 percent, the final number would be “you guessed it—$3 million.”
The Sullivan Aquatics Center will replace the current outdoor pool with a regulation-size facility that includes a movable bulkhead to allow both lap swimmers and water polo players to share the water. New bleachers and an accessible spectator pool entrance will be added.
Construction is slated to begin in early March, with completion tentatively set for September 2008.
Sullivan said the donation was to help “change the ability of SCU to recruit the highest quality water polo players from around the country.” He became a fan of water polo after watching family members play, including a grandson who competed on one of UCLA’s championship teams. And he was inspired to donate because of the leadership of an SCU accounting classmate: President Paul Locatelli, S.J. ’60 —DK