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JOANNA LAU SULLIVAN: A TRIBUTE
Joanna Lau Sullivan was born in Hawaii to parents At the Honolulu Museum of Art an endowment was
who ran a small grocery on Oahu. From this modest established which provides support for exhibitions,
beginning she and her husband Maurice “Sully” Sullivan staff salaries and conservation related to the
began the expansion and development of a family operation of “The Maurice J. Sullivan Family Gallery
business which is today Hawaii’s largest grocery retailer of Chinese Art.” Included among the works on
with thirty-two “Foodland” and “Sack and Save” stores display is a special selection of Joanna’s cherished
statewide, more than one hundred and fifty retail stores snuff bottles. In addition, funding for the care and
across nine states and four thousand employees. It maintenance of the “Joanna Lau Sullivan Courtyard”
was the realization of the American dream, a family is assured. “Joanna’s Courtyard” was for her a source
accomplishment significantly bolstered by Joanna’s of great joy and pride, a unique legacy enjoyed by
business acumen, hard work and wise counsel. tens of thousands of visitors each year.
Joanna and “Sully” generously shared their prosperity She was a savvy businesswoman and a generous
with all of Hawaii’s people. Following Sully’s death, benefactor with a keen eye for beauty. There was
Joanna and her family continued their far reaching absolutely no guile or pretense about Joanna. She
community support, providing resources for a wide was a gracious, charming and warm human being,
range of causes and organizations associated with whose life made all of ours far richer and more
education, health, and human services and the arts. meaningful.
George R. Ellis
Director Emeritus, Honolulu Museum of Art
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