Michael T. Sullivan

Sullivan was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[1] He would graduate from Marquette University and earned his J.D. from the Marquette University Law School. He further went on to receive his LL.M. in taxation from UIC John Marshall Law School in 1972.[2]

Michael Sullivan was elected to the Wisconsin Circuit Court in the Milwaukee-based 2nd Circuit in 1953. He defeated incumbent Ronold A. Drechsler who had been appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of Judge Daniel W. Sullivan. Judge Sullivan was re-elected in 1959, but left office in 1963, and became a judge of the Milwaukee County court. He remained in that office for the next fifteen years, until the circuit court and county courts were combined in 1978. At that point, he once again became a judge of the Circuit Court. He left office in 1981, but was called back to serve as an acting judge when Judge Christ T. Seraphim was suspended.

In 1984, Judge Sullivan was elected to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. He was re-elected in 1990, but was defeated in 1996 by Circuit Court Judge Patricia S. Curley, though he continued to serve as a reserve judge.

Over the course of his life, Judge Sullivan donated 257 pints of blood. Having contracted poliomyelitis during childhood, Judge Sullivan died of post-polio syndrome. He was preceded in death by his wife, Jeanne. They had one son, Michael, Jr., who followed his father into the legal profession.[2]