July 1, 1948 – July 24, 2025
Doris Anne Sullivan, lovingly known to many as “Mamma D”, passed away peacefully in the late morning of Thursday, July 24, 2025, at Rhode Island Hospital, after a months-long struggle with heart complications. She was 77.
A beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, life partner, and cherished friend, Doris’s heart both literal and symbolic was her compass. Though it eventually tired, it never failed to heal, uplift, and embrace those around her.
A longtime resident of Newport, Rhode Island, Doris was a radiant presence in her community. She brought joy, her favorite word and the very essence of how she lived to everyone she encountered. From store clerks to neighbors and healthcare workers, her warm energy was often delivered with a smile and a Tootsie Roll Pop in hand, small tokens of peace and kindness that captured her spirit.
Doris earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Boston College while working at Edgehill, a substance use treatment center in Newport. She went on to serve as Assistant Director of Conifer Park, a residential treatment facility in New York, before opening her own private practice. Her work was never just a job, it was a calling. She met people exactly where they were, in joy or pain, and knew instinctively when to be a quiet, listening ear and when to speak life, love, and wisdom into others with intentional grace.
Doris’s life was shaped by resilience. She turned a very difficult childhood into the life she dreamed of, manifested through hard work, altruism, and a deep desire to give. She lived and loved with both fierceness and gentleness, always putting others before herself, and infusing every space she entered with laughter, light, and purpose.
She is survived by her beloved son and daughter-in-law, Jonathan and Stephanie Sullivan; her ex-husband, T. Geoffrey Sullivan; grandchildren, Elijah and Ava Sullivan; great-grandson, Elijah Jace Sullivan all of Newport, RI; and her devoted life partner and best friend, Richard Albaugh of Warren, RI.
To those who knew her, Doris was so much more than a title she was a Mom, a Nanna, a partner, a mentor, a guiding light, a warm hug, a listening ear, a pocket of sunshine, and the purest form of gratitude, honor, dignity, grace, and joy. If you were lucky enough to meet Doris, you already know this to be true and could surely add your own story to the countless lives she touched.
She will be deeply missed and forever remembered with full hearts, and endless joy.
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