Cambridge dedicated its City Council Chamber last Sunday as the "Sullivan Chamber" to celebrate one of Cambridge's most prominent family's 50th anniversary in city politics.

With a brass quintet playing, approximately 800 guests marked the tribute to the Sullivans in a three-hour ceremony, says David F. Noonan, executive assistant to the Mayor.

The late Michael A. Sullivan was City Councillor from 1936 until 1949; he was succeeded by his son, Edward J. Sullivan, who presided as Mayor in 1956 to 1957 and is currently the Clerk of Court in Middlesex County. Walter J. Sullivan, an Independent--or moderate conservative--presently serving his third term as Mayor of Cambridge, has been on the City Council since 1960.

Originally hailing from Limerick, Ireland, the Sullivans have lived for decades in Cambridge's Putnam Square, where the family's father initially owned a horse-and-wagon business. "The Sullivans are not a political dynasty--they are visible and respected, but they have not forgotten where they came from," Noonan says.

"They are local kids who made good," says Noonan. "The Sullivan roots are here; they are simple people who understood local concerns and could serve the community well because they remember the days that they struggled."

Michael J. Sullivan was a legend in the community, says City Councilor David E. Sullivan, a member of the liberal Cambridge Civic Association (CCA). "He was known as `Micky the Dude,' at the time when Cambridge was under a different form of government and the mayor had more power and was more influential than he is now."

"Michael was one of the earliest public officials to attack Harvard for a living, and he won enormous public support for it," says Glenn S. Koocher '71, a retired member of the Cambridge school committee.

"Michael began the tradition of constituency service," says Koocher, "by giving away turkeys at Thanksgiving, and being there when people needed help."

Serving during the New Deal, the eldest Sullivan was instrumental in distributing welfare benefits to Cambridge residents in the form of Christmas baskets and other gifts, added City Councilor David.

"Our father was a friendly little guy who wanted to help people," says his son, Edward. "I remember during the depression--with the Work Progress efforts, we had lines of people outside of our house on Surrey Street every day, waiting to talk to my father for a job of any kind."

"Michael was widely loved and respected for his good deeds and he has had a positive, lasting effect on the community," says David Sullivan, "And Edward and Walter follow in the tradition."

Under the city's 44-year-old Plan E government, the mayor exercises a highly visible but mostly ceremonial position as the chairman of the School Committee and the City Council.

The Mayor has continued to represent the voters and offer constituency service.

"Walter doesn't miss a wake or a funeral. His family has been around for a long time, and when he walks into the funeral home, it is as though he has bestowed an honor to the person in the casket," says Koocher. "If anyone else did it, people would think it was really cheap. But when Walter comes, it is a heightened respect."

"I remember when he attended the wake of a family who had lost both their father and mother. Walter went up to the oldest child in the family and put $500 of his own funds into the child's hand," says Koocher. "I suppose he thought it was the least he could do."