Profits & Passions Mark O’Sullivan Faith in numbers BY KEITH LORIA

Profits & Passions
Mark O’Sullivan
Faith in numbers
BY KEITH LORIA

They say that sometimes it takes a wake-up call to rediscover your faith. For Mark O’Sullivan, the call came more than 20 years ago when he fell out of a tree.

“I almost killed myself,” O’Sullivan, 54, said. “I was 40 feet up in a tree and I electrocuted myself and either that or the fall should have killed me but it didn’t.”

He saw the burns on his hands and bruises on his body as a jolt from God asking what he was doing with his life. Years later, O’Sullivan was on his way to becoming a deacon in his church.

It was another step on the road back to his religion. Growing up on Long Island, O’Sullivan was raised in a strict Catholic environment.

“My parents were very faithful people and there was never a Sunday when we didn’t go to Mass,” he said. “Like any kid at 16 or 17, I rebelled.”

Church wasn’t necessarily on his mind when he went to Sienna College in Albany hoping to become a history teacher. His career plans changed when he stumbled into accounting. He liked it enough to put his faith in the numbers and has been working as an accountant the past 33 years.

O’Sullivan also found love as a freshman and soon after graduation, was married to his college sweetheart Sue in 1974. That was the first step to bringing him back to religion.

“Having the foundation from when I was younger, when my wife and I got married, we did begin going to church regularly,” O’Sullivan said. “I really turned toward my faith a great deal then.”

But it was the fall that really solidified his devotion and made him realize that he needed to straighten out some things in his life. Through the years O’Sullivan had been asked several times to teach religion classes at his church and he finally agreed.

REDISCOVERED HIS FAITH

“I hated it for a while but then I started studying my faith for the first time as an adult and I fell in love with it,” the Clinton resident said. “It’s one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

Next, he became a Eucharistic minister, bringing the host to nursing homes each Sunday. Finally, he was asked to become a deacon at his church.

“I thought about that for over a year and decided to do it,” he said. “It took four years of study -- academics and pastoral -- and I was ordained five years ago. It was a wonderful day and blessing for me and my family.”

That family consists of five daughters and seven granddaughters.

His male bonding comes from his involvement in local clubs such as the Knights of Columbus, where he has been a member since 1980 and the Rotary Club, which he has been in since 1983.

“I think it’s important to be in groups like this on a lot of levels,” O’Sullivan said. “They are good for business to be out in the community and it’s our obligation to give something back.”

Speaking of business, when O’Sullivan isn’t at home or attending to his church duties, he can be found in his Poughkeepsie office --especially at this time of year -- working on taxes and running his firm.

O’Sullivan co-founded Sedore & Co. in 1982 and specializes in municipal consulting, tax and accounting consulting and is currently the firm’s managing partner.

“I really enjoy working with my clients, that’s the best part of my job,” he said. “I do a lot of tax work with commercial clients, solving tax problems, helping them start businesses, end businesses. …”

He also does a great deal of municipal consulting with various communities around the county.

“Running the practice is my greatest challenge,” O’Sullivan said. “My greatest reward is working with staff and partners and setting goals and helping them achieve individual and firm goals.”

As with anyone in the tax business, April is always one of the busiest months of the year for O’Sullivan and he can work 60 to 70 hours a week. Then he needs to go to church and work on his deacon duties, such as planning baptisms. You would think that the time commitment would be a bit much, but he relishes it.

“When I go there after working all day, I come home refreshed,” he said. “I really enjoy my ministry and what it does for me.”

And when it comes to numbers, the most important number to O’Sullivan is three. “I have three areas of my life -- family, faith and my ministry and work -- and I just make sure to give all of them enough time.”

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