Born in Denver, Colorado on 25 February 1936, Richard Douglas Sullivan spent his formative years studying Latin, Greek and History at Regis Preparatory School and College. He earned a BA (1959) from the University of Chicago, and a PhD (1970) at the University of California, Los Angeles. In addition to his studies at UCLA, Sullivan spent much of the 1960s researching and teaching at various institutions, including the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, the Vergilian Society in Naples, Harvard, Berkeley, and Oxford. In 1967 Sullivan was appointed Lecturer in Classics at the University of Saskatchewan; by 1977 he had been promoted to full Professor. He resigned from the University in 1980 to accept a at Simon Fraser University. In 1984, he became the Historian for the National Geographic Society's Kavouvi Project in Crete. Sullivan was a prolific scholar of international scope and reputation. Perhaps his most lasting contribution to the U of S was in connection with his work as a papyrologist; he secured for the Library film and slide reproductions of papyrus documents housed at major museums around the world. To his credit are three books and more than 25 published articles and reviews. Sullivan died in Vancouver in 1988 at the age of 53.