David Sullivan retired in 2020 as assistant managing editor, editing and standards for The Philadelphia Inquirer, a position he had held since 2012. He started at the paper as a copy editor on the Metro desk in 1983 and worked on the Sports, Features, Neighbors, and Metro desks until becoming assistant managing editor, copy desks, in 2001. Before working at the Inquirer, he had been a reporter and editor at The Palladium-Item in Richmond, Ind., and two newspapers in Michigan, The Ypsilanti Press and The Flint Journal. While working for the Inquirer, he led workshops on better editing and headline writing at newspapers in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Ontario, and Pennsylvania. He served as president of the Greater Philadelphia Pro Chapter, Society of Professional Journalists, and as a board member, secretary, and vice president of ACES: The Society for Editing, a national organization with nearly 5,000 members. A native of Indianapolis, he is a 1975 graduate of Ball State University, of which he was named outstanding journalism alumnus in 2012. He also is a historian of department stores, and wrote the entry on that subject in the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Until working on this book, he never paid much attention to pro football; now, he bleeds Eagles green.
