Michael C. O'Sullivan, 83, landscaper, father of 10

Michael C. O'Sullivan, 83, a landscape company owner and father of 10, died Sunday, Oct. 16, of heart failure at home.

Mr. O'Sullivan was born on a farm in County Kerry, Ireland. He immigrated to the United States in 1946 and worked for a dairy in Philadelphia.

During the Korean War, he served in the Army for two years in North Carolina and Georgia and then remained in the Army Reserve for several years.

After his active military service, he was a trolley driver for Philadelphia Transportation Corp. in West Philadelphia.

In his younger years, Mr. O'Sullivan, at 6-foot-3, had a passion for Gaelic football. He was cofounder and captain of St. Brendan's Football Team in Philadelphia and played on the Cavan, Galway, and Tyrone teams. He was past president of the Kerry Society of Philadelphia.

He met his future wife, Kathleen Kelly, a native of County Clare at an Irish dance.

They married in 1956, and a year later he started a landscaping business, tending residential properties on the Main Line.

In 1968, Mr. O'Sullivan and his wife were raising seven children in Upper Darby when he was involved in a devastating accident. While servicing a riding mower on a street in Penn Valley, he was hit by a drunken driver. A leg was crushed, his wife said, and doctors told him it would be unlikely he would ever walk again.

Mr. O'Sullivan spent months in the hospital and then recuperated for a year at home. His wife kept the business running, picking up employees in the truck every morning.

Eventually, he learned to walk with a pronounced limp and resumed working. He never took a vacation and only took off a couple of hours on Sundays to go to church and spend time with their children, his wife said.

In 1992, he retired from O'Sullivan Landscaping, and a son Patrick took over the business.

In addition to his wife and son, Mr. O'Sullivan is survived by sons Robert and Michael; daughters Dianne, Maureen, Brenda, Sheila, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Eileen; 22 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

A Funeral Mass will be at 11 a.m., Friday, Oct. 21, at SS. Simon and Jude Church, 8 Cavanaugh Court, West Chester. Friends may call from 9 a.m. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken.

Donations may be made to St. Laurence School, 8245 West Chester Pike, Upper Darby, Pa 19082.