Archives West Finding Aid

This oral history interview with Donal D. Sullivan was conducted by Adair Law from June 3 to August 4, 2004. In this interview, Sullivan discusses his family background and early life, which was primarily spent in Chicago, Illinois. He then talks about serving in the U.S. Army Reserves and getting called to active duty during the Korean War. He discusses studying electrical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology and law at DePaul University. He talks about his marriage to Marilyn Johnson and about relocating to Portland, Oregon.

Sullivan discusses working as a law clerk for Oregon Supreme Court Justice Hall Lusk. He talks about some of the cases Lusk heard during that time. He then talks about how he came to work as a deputy Multnomah County district attorney under Leo Smith and about briefly moving back to Chicago. He discusses returning to Oregon to work as a deputy U.S. attorney under U.S. Attorney Robert Y. Thornton, and later Sid Lezak. He talks about some of the cases he worked on, particularly fraud cases. He then talks about working as clerk for the U.S. District Court of Oregon, including the judges he worked with, particularly Gus Solomon, and cases he worked on, particularly those relating to draft resisters. He discusses Marilyn Johnson's death in 1983. He then talks about his second marriage to Carol O'Kane, and her subsequent death; his children and step-children, their families, and their careers; and his experience of being quarantined during a Chicago summer due to a polio epidemic. Sullivan then discusses serving as a bankruptcy judge. He talks about his predecessor, Estes Snedecor, some of the cases he heard, and changes in bankruptcy laws. He also talks about his third marriage, to Dede McLoughlin, and about his siblings' families and their careers. He speaks about his view of the role of bankruptcy in a capitalist system and his philosophy of law. He speaks at length about several particular bankruptcy cases he heard. He closes the interview by discussing his retirement activities.