2006 Honorary Degree
Dennis W. Sullivan
Doctor Of Engineering
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He retired in 2003 from Parker Hannifin Corporation of Cleveland, where he was executive vice president and president of Worldwide Industrial and Automotive Products. He now lives in Boca Grande, Fla.
Sullivan came to Purdue from Chicago, Ill., earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in 1960 and advanced from a sales trainee position at Parker Hannifin to the second highest ranking executive of the corporation when he retired 43 years later. Parker is the world’s leading diversified manufacturer of motion-control technologies for a wide range of industrial and aerospace markets.
Along the way, he attended evening classes at Case Western Reserve University and earned his master's degree in business administration in 1969. At the time Sullivan entered the company, it was doing $50 million worth of sales. By time he retired, the company’s sales were $6.5 billion and Sullivan was responsible for more than 80 percent of the corporation’s total sales volume.
During his early years with the company, Sullivan was granted several patents for innovations in the manufacture of fluid connection products. From 1972-76, he served as group vice president and was in charge of several divisions with responsibility for a major research and development program on thermoplastic fluid connectors. In 1980, he became president of the Industrial Sector, which includes the Seal, Fluid Connector, Fluidpower and Refrigeration Components Groups, and in 1981 became the executive vice president for the corporation.
Participation in his community included serving as chairman of the Euclid General Hospital and helping to found Meridia Health Care Systems, which is now part of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Sullivan is a longtime supporter of his alma mater, serving on the Purdue School of Mechanical Engineering’s Industrial Advisory Board. He was honored in 1997 as a Distinguished Engineering Alumnus.