Posted on 09/10/2007 4:48:56 AM PDT by raccoonradio
*Some sad news from MASSACHUSETTS just as we go to press early this Monday morning: Paul Sullivan, the former WBZ (1030) evening talk host, lost his battle with brain cancer Sunday night.
Sullivan's fight took a turn for the worse last week, when WBZ released a statement from his family saying that Sullivan was taken off medical treatment and was receiving hospice care at Saints Memorial Medical Center in Lowell.
"Paul is surrounded by his family and friends and would like everyone to know how important all the thoughts and prayers have been to him," said the statement.
That was Thursday, and now comes the word that Sullivan died with his beloved family by his side on Sunday evening, just ten weeks after he said farewell to his listeners in an emotional final show from the WBZ studios June 28.
Sullivan, 50, was a true Bay State original, a newspaper guy who came late to the radio medium, adding WLLH (1400 Lowell) to his career at the Lowell Sun in the late eighties. Sullivan began filling in for the late David Brudnoy on WBZ in the late nineties, and took over the evening shift after Brudnoy's death in 1999, replacing Brudnoy's nightly academic seminars with an earthier (and distinctively Merrimack Valley-accented) approach to talk radio.
It wasn't long afterward that Sullivan's brain cancer was diagnosed, and once again the WBZ family is mourning a good friend and talented broadcaster, lost far too young.
We here at NERW send our sympathies to Sullivan's family and his colleagues. We'll update this week's column with any information about memorial services and special WBZ programming as it becomes available. (As we write this early Monday morning, Dan Pierce is on the air filling in for Steve LeVeille, and he's talking about other topics.)
Sullie was a thoroughly decent guy. He lacked Brudnoy’s bite, but he was fairminded and could toss off the occasional zinger.
RIP
yes—ironically enough Sully got the news of his own
cancer diagnosis a few weeks before Bruds passed on.
Brudnoy wanted Sully to have the shift.
Paul Sullivan RIP, prayers for family and loved ones.
from the Lowell (MA) Sun
Paul Sullivan dies at age 50
LOWELL — Paul Sullivan, the irrepressible veteran Sun columnist, popular radio talk show host and educator who turned his battle with cancer into an example of the bravery and grace with which such epics can be fought, has died.
He was 50 years old, and leaves his wife of a decade, Mary Jo Griffin, and children, Ryan, Ashley And Kerri Sullivan, and Caitlin and Colleen Ferry.
Sullivan also leaves his parents, Kevin and Peg Sullivan, which bothered him immensely.
And he leaves legions of listeners and readers who will miss his wit and wisdom.
Sullivan was diagnosed with stage IV melanoma in November 2004.
Nearly three years and four surgeries after his cancer diagnosis, Sullivan died at Saints Medical Center in Lowell, where he was also born. He moved from his home in Salisbury to the hospital Aug. 29, eight days after entering hospice care.
He entered under a fake name supplied by the hospital.
Despite the assumed name, family, friends and colleagues knew where to find him — Room 334 — and were a constant presence.
His wife rarely left his side. Since his original diagnosis on Nov. 22, 2004, she tenaciously guarded the course of his care.
A wall of his corner room on the hospital’s third floor was plastered
with family photographs.
Start to finish the man went quickly at a very young age.
Did he ever sub for Rush?
Not that I know of.
RIP.
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