$200K Baruch Challenge Fulfilled for John E. Sullivan Professorship  

February 13, 2009

In December 2007, Tom Baruch, L’67, committed a one-for-one match of $200,000 if Capital University Law School successfully secured an additional $200,000 in qualifying gifts from J.D. graduates to fund the Professor Emeritus John E. Sullivan Professor of Law.

“I am very happy to announce that we have successfully met Tom Baruch’s challenge and in the process have secured a total of $515,500 in gifts and commitments for the Sullivan Professorship,” said Dean Jack A. Guttenberg. 

In creating this challenge Mr. Baruch said, “John Sullivan is a national treasure.  We now have a great opportunity to honor a man who truly values teaching and his students. This is an opportunity for more alumni to support their law school and the goals of its strategic plan.”    

This professorship represents the first professorship that has been established entirely with donor gifts. It honors John E. Sullivan who joined the law faculty of Franklin University Law School in 1953.  He was an energetic, determined, and steady force who greatly impacted the growth of the Law School.  He twice served as acting dean. He taught criminal law, torts and consumer law.  Deeply respected by his students, he was selected by the student body three times as Professor of the Year.  In 1973-74, he took a sabbatical to serve as an assistant county prosecutor for Franklin County. For his many contributions, the annual John E. Sullivan Lecture was created in 1978 and named in honor of his 25 years of service to the Law School, his tireless commitment to teaching and legal education, and his deep personal interest in his students. In 1987 the Law School awarded Professor Sullivan with an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree. At the time he assumed professor emeritus status in 1988, Professor Sullivan had taught nearly 90 percent of all living graduates of the Franklin University and Capital University Law Schools.

Mr. Baruch, a registered patent attorney, is founder and managing director of the San Francisco-based CMEA Ventures, a venture capital firm with a focus on life sciences, high technology and energy and materials investments. Baruch holds an engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he serves as a member of the Board of Trustees. He honed his “early-stage” investment skills at Battelle Development Corporation, while he earned his law degree in the evening program at Capital.