Researching Joseph Sullivan

Born in Toronto, Ontario, he graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine in 1926. While studying, he was the goaltender for the Toronto Varsity Blues hockey team. A team of graduates from the Blues represented Canada at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, where the team won the Gold Medal, with Sullivan not allowing a goal in the three-game round-robin. His brother, Frank, was also on the team.

In 1930, he started his medical practice, specializing in otolaryngology. During World War II, he served as an consultant in Otolaryngology with the honorary rank of Wing Commander in the Royal Canadian Air Force. After the war, he became an associate professor at the University of Toronto.

One of his patients was the Prime Minister of Canada, John Diefenbaker. In 1957, he was appointed to the Senate of Canada by Diefenbaker, representing the senatorial division of North York, Ontario. A Progressive Conservative, he resigned in 1985.

Sullivan enjoyed his summers for many years on Lake Temagami, north of North Bay, Ontario.

In 1988, he was inducted into the University of Toronto Sports Hall of Fame. The Senator Joseph A. Sullivan Trophy, named in his honour, is presented annually to the outstanding hockey player in Canadian Interuniversity Sport. A Roman Catholic, Sullivan was a papal Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and a papal Knight Commander of Order of St. Gregory the Great with distinction.

Born in York, Sullivan was educated at St Peter's School, York, and Christ's College, Cambridge. He was a right-arm medium fast bowler, who took seven wickets at 27.71, with a best of 3 for 24 against the Indians. He scored 209 runs as a right-handed batsman, with a best of 44, also against the Indians. He took three catches in the field.

He died in February 1932 in Parkgate, Cheshire, aged 41. His brother, Arnold Sullivan, played thirteen games for Cambridge University and Sussex.

Born in Cambuslang, Sullivan was educated in Bellshill and Newton, before becoming a coal miner. He became active in the Lanarkshire Miners' County Union, serving as its president, and as a full-time agent for the union.

At the 1906 United Kingdom general election, Sullivan stood for the Scottish Workers' Representation Committee in North West Lanarkshire, but was not elected. In 1909, the committee became part of the Labour Party, for which Sullivan stood in North East Lanarkshire at the January 1910 United Kingdom general election, but he was again unsuccessful.

At the 1918 general election, he unsuccessfully contested the North Lanarkshire constituency, but won the seat at the 1922 general election. He was re-elected in 1923, but was defeated at the 1924 general election by the Conservative Party candidate Sir Alexander Sprot.

In 1926 he was returned to the House of Commons as MP for Bothwell, at a by-election following the death of the Labour MP John Robertson. He was re-elected in 1929, but lost the seat at the 1931 general election when the Labour vote collapsed as the party split over its leader Ramsay MacDonald's formation of a National Government.

As a student at Queen Charlotte College in Picton, Sullivan competed at the 2003, 2004 and 2005 national secondary school rowing championships (Maadi Cup). He was a member of the crews that won the boys under-18 double sculls for the school three years running, and won the boys under-18 single sculls events in 2004 and 2005. In his home town, he is known as "the pride of Picton".

He won back-to-back gold medals in the men's double sculls with rowing partner Nathan Cohen at both the 2010 (at Lake Karapiro, by six hundredths of a second over Germans Hans Gruhne and Stephan Krüger) and 2011 World Rowing Championships (in Slovenia). It was the first gold medal win for a New Zealand premier double sculls combination at the world championships.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics at Eton Dorney, Windsor, Sullivan and rowing partner Nathan Cohen won the gold medal in the men's double scull event. They broke the Olympic best time in the heats.

In the finals they were in last place at the 500 m mark, in fifth place at the 1000 m mark, in fourth at the 1500 m mark, and then sprinted as the line approached to take first for the victory, with a last quarter of 1:33. They won with a time of 6 minutes, 31.67 seconds. They finished ahead of the Italy's Alessio Sartori and Romano Battisti by 1:13 seconds, and Slovenian 2000 Olympic champions and 2004 silver medalists Luka Špik and Iztok Čop came in third. Sullivan and Cohen were awarded a Halberg Award for "New Zealand's Favourite Sporting Moment".

Sullivan won five consecutive world titles at U23 and Elite World Rowing Championships. In the 2013 New Year Honours, Sullivan was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to rowing.

In June 2014, Sullivan announced he was retiring from rowing in order to pursue a career with the New Zealand Fire Service as a firefighter based in Auckland. In 2016, Sullivan joined Emirates Team New Zealand, as a grinder a (i.e. spinning the handles that produce hydraulic pressure to move the boat's wings and daggerboards), for the 2017 America's Cup in Bermuda.