May 28, 2023

The first time I met Marian Sullivan, she was far more interested in dishing out a piece of pecan pie for me than she was serving up any details for the story I was hoping to report about her life in business.

The fact that I was sitting in her kitchen at all was not something I took for granted. Marian had just sold the business she had built into a national leader in the wholesale gift and home decor industry. I knew it was a terrific story — an under-the-radar, homegrown success led by one of few women of her time to ever hold the role of CEO in Sioux Falls.

I also knew she was anything but a spotlight seeker.

But I’d leaned on some mutual friends to encourage her to at least have a conversation, and even if it meant eating a good chunk of that pie, I was hoping to hang around long enough to convince her to allow me to tell her story.

That was nearly a decade ago — and, even now, I can feel her cringing from heaven at the thought of me giving her another headline.

I was fortunate that not only did Marian allow me to interview her, but she also became a friend, introducing me to three generations of her family and sharing bits of wisdom with me regularly for nearly 10 years. So it seems entirely appropriate to honor her this Memorial Day weekend — she passed away May 24 at the age of 94 — both for the incredible legacy in business she created but even more for the model life of faith and generosity she led.

It’s one of those stories you wish you could bottle and share with any entrepreneur or business leader at any stage of growth or success because there’s much about it that universally leads to a lot of good.

It starts with Marian’s late husband, Bill Sr., who began his career selling a wide range of products and one day came home to tell her he wanted to go into business himself, importing products from Europe. This was in the late 1960s, so they both wrote letters to factories asking for catalogs and then ordered product samples to determine what to sell.

They started with a little cash and a second mortgage on their house.

“He sold everybody he called on the first time,” Marian told me for this story the first time we met. “He said, ‘I knew if I didn’t I couldn’t be coming around the second.'”

She handled all the accounting and office work, at first managing inventory in their basement, while raising five children.

It led to Sullivan Import Co., now Sullivans, which became known regionwide for giftware products, permanent florals and home decor.

In 1987, Bill Sr. died of cancer and Marian — then 59 — had a decision to make. She could have sold the business, but she told me she felt in many ways it was just getting started.

So instead, she grew it. Sullivans had never done business in Asia, but Marian pioneered business from Hong Kong to Taipei and Bangkok, expanded in Christmas merchandise and grew the company to the point where it had showrooms in Atlanta, Dallas, Las Vegas and Minneapolis. More than 10,000 retailers carried products from Sullivans.

“When Marian traveled overseas in Asia, she was one of the most respected people over there, which is incredible for women,” longtime marketing manager Elaine Deelstra told me in 2014.

“It was her high level of integrity. She had a great deal of knowledge not just on product but the whole business. They highly respected her as a person and a business owner, and they still do to this day. When our traveling team goes over, they still ask about Mrs. Sullivan.”

The business was sold nine years ago as a way to position it for growth. I remember Marian telling me as she considered offers for the business that she chose the buyer she felt would be best for her employees. At the time, the 67-person team combined for more than 750 years of service.

“I wanted to make sure they’d be a good employer for them. I wanted to make sure my employees were going to be OK,” she said.

In 2021, Marian — fittingly — was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame.

“Marian is uncommonly genuine — and generous,” University of Sioux Falls President Brett Bradfield said at the time.

“Marian has been the consummate model of servant leadership, with the good of others always guiding her generosity. She consistently minimizes her role as a humanitarian, even though it’s recognized by all that have come to know her.”

Look no further than this example: Carter Domagalski, whom Marian met as a server at The Country Club of Sioux Falls, trying to figure out his next steps in life.

Through many conversations, Marian felt called to help the young man and ultimately paid for his USF tuition — including pre-paying for graduate school, if he chooses to attend.

“When the Lord nudges me like that, I tend to listen,” she said in this publication.

After having gotten to know her for nearly a decade, nothing about this surprised me.

Lunch with Marian always began with saying grace, and the prayers she offered generally were for me — asking for support in my work and giving thanks for my friendship.

I have no doubt that selflessness extends in ways few fully know, at a level of generosity rarely found even among the most successful in business.

To that point, I asked her once if she realized how uncommon it was for a woman in Sioux Falls to lead a global business, especially in the time that she did it. It took her a second to respond as she genuinely didn’t seem to have ever considered it.

“Well, I don’t think that really matters much,” she said. “What matters is how you treat people.”

Then, she quickly changed the subject back to asking me about the business news of the day, which she followed loyally well into her 90s.

If you read this meaningful tribute to Marian, you will learn much more about her amazing life and find details on her memorial services.

I suspect if I had been able to ask her again to reflect on her life, she would have said almost identically what she told me that first day we met.

“I give the success to the Lord,” she said. “The Lord has brought the right people and has sustained me. I give the Lord credit, and in the last years, that’s one of the reasons I kept going. To give a good portion of it away.”

There’s a world of difference between professing your faith and living your faith, between success and significance. I’m grateful to have had a friend who so beautifully modeled both.