[1] He came from a political family with his father, Thomas Lennox Sullivan, being a former mayor of Indianapolis.

He was also a lifelong bachelor who was among the first people entered into the "Indiana Hall of Fame" in 1974.

He received his education there, graduating from Wabash College in 1897 and the Indiana University School of Law in 1899.

[3][4][5] He entered politics as a Democrat, and served as an Indiana state senator from 1910 to 1914.

[3] Sullivan died in Indianapolis on January 30, 1980, and was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery.