Sullivan’s Funeral Home

Jim Sullivan and Sylvia were kind, compassionate, knowledgeable, patient, and caring in a difficult time when my father passed away. There’s a lot to learn in an extremely short amount of time and a very stressful situation. The arrangements were clear, straightforward, flexible, and professional. They made sure our family’s wishes and needs were well taken care of. Sullivan’s is a classic and historic funeral home — their family founded it and ran it for decades. The business is now part of the Duggan Serra funeral home business and the market street location will likely close in the next few years; but I’m glad and grateful it was there, just a few blocks from my father’s home and from mine, in a difficult time of need.

My experience with Sullivan’s was uniformly outstanding. Fred in particular is highly personable, competent, and knowledgable. In my family’s situation, where we had to transfer ashes to Europe, he anticipated all the problems associated with taking remains overseas, and how documentation must meet the specific requirements of each receiving country. Fred and his staff quickly arranged for the needed documents to be apostilled by the State of CA, and had them translated, which was done quickly, accurately, and at a reasonable price. He also made numerous calls to the foreign consulate, in order to push the approval process forward.
Fred himself is a San Francisco native and a great guy, who does not attempt to sell you more than you want. He is absolutely scrupulous in reviewing the various state-​required disclaimers, which are meant to provide consumer protection. In short, he takes pride in his work and is highly professional.
Overall, I can’t say enough about how Fred and his staff made a difficult situation much better. Having him arrange for the international transport of remains removed a huge stress, which was invaluable. I give him a galaxy of stars.

Fred made the planning easier and provided just the right amount of support and advice. Fred has a special empathy, and his experience helped us get through an event I wish we could have postponed for a much longer time. Everything was handled professionnally with care and attention.

I want to write about my exceptional experience with Sullivan’s Funeral Home, specifically with Fred. He has been such a blessing in a very difficult situation and he actually deserves more than five stars. He has gone above and beyond the call of duty and mentioning all the many ways he attended to our situation would actually take too long…
A couple of weekends ago, friends of mine were visiting from Germany. During their visit, one of them had a heart attack and died the same night. It was such a shock for all of us and particularly his wife who was traveling with him to San Francisco. Going through such a painful experience is brutal enough in itself, but experiencing it in a foreign country when barely speaking the language adds a whole other layer of challenges and anxiety. Through the German Consulate, we learned about Sullivan’s Funeral Home. Although it was a Sunday and Fred was not working that day, the gentleman who picked up the phone at Sullivan’s was able to get a hold of Fred (who handles the more ‘international’ cases) and he reached out to me within less than 10 min. He walked me through everything we needed to know in a phone conversation that lasted at least 30 min. (on his day off!). We felt so comforted by all the insights he shared and because of all his efforts and another 2-​hour meeting with my friends the next day they were able to go back to Germany within 24 hours, knowing that the remains of their husband and friend were in the best hands with Fred until the coffin could be shipped to Germany as well. Today, the memorial service was held in Germany and all of us have the warmest memories of Fred, while remembering the lovely person who died. Thank you, Fred!

I used Sullivans for my Mother. She passed last week and I originally was going to use another Funeral home but it got really awkward when the gentlemen that answered the phone did not speak English as a first language. So I called Sullivans and Jim Sullivan answered the phone!!! Jim was so sweet, he was professional and knew everything before we even asked. Jim and his entire staff were very good about following up on everything. I highly recommend this place! Jim is 3^rd generation running this funeral home so they really know what they are doing and will explain everything to you.

Sullivan’s is such a beautiful place. Seeing it there through the years is like seeing an old friend. it’s been there as long as I can remember. The architecture of their building is gorgeous classic Mediterranean San Francisco style. An old school wonderful place.

The people were nice, and I like old Francisco Irish businesses (with lots of parking) but the rug and general atmosphere was dated and tired, and unnecessarily depressing. Worst of all, they gave my husband an expression so unlike him I couldn’t stand to look at him, though I had so wanted to see him one last time.
We actually just rounded up our fellow mourners and went back to our house.

I’m so happy I found Sullivan’s through Unilocal.I went to a concert last week at the Swedish American Hall and I was worried about finding parking on a Friday night. I found Sullivan’s and gave him a call earlier in the day to verify the price. It’s a flat rate of $ 10.00 to park. I’m so happy that I know about this lot! It made my life so much easier and next time i’m in the Castro I will definitely park here again.

I learned about Sullivan because a coworker of mine had died and they did such a professional job with the ceremony that I didn’t even give it a second thought. When my mom died, I was pretty much the only one who was responsible for figuring out what had to be done after she died so I had no idea what this involved. I met with Fred Shevchenko the funeral director 2 days later who was extremely helpful in telling me everything that Sullivan would do for me from beginning to end. I felt totally comfortable and reassured that he was giving all the necessary information and guiding me through the entire process. They contacted the church for me and was able to find a priest at the last minute for the prayer and rosary service. Fred removed much of the stress I had anticipated with planning the funeral service. Personable, reliable, professional and compassionate are traits very few possess, I was so fortunate to have worked with Fred. Sylvia, was also extremely generous and helpful in getting us set up for the viewing and made me and my family feel so welcome and made herself readily available. Sylvia made our family feel so comfortable and her generosity and warmth was so reassuring. I agree with the previous review that there is a large selection of caskets and the process can be difficult, but Fred allowed me to have private time to decide what I wanted. If I needed to ask a question (s) Fred was there for me.
I cannot recommend Sullivan’s Funeral Home enough. They handled everything professionally and with extreme sensitivity on the day of the funeral with the mass and right up to the graveside services.

Just spoke with Mr. Sullivan — to clarify, Sullivan’s in a Funeral Home with a private parking lot. They rent spaces in their lot on Thursday Friday and Saturday evenings. Not a full time parking lot!

Convenient parking for dining in the castro!

A nice venue for a celebration of life!
We visited for a memorial of a friend who lived on this planet for 100 years before she moved to the next level. There were 2 chapels, 3 reception areas, and a green room. The chapels were tastefully appointed in ways that could accommodate any type of ceremony.
Our friend’s friends filled the large chapel easily, and with our own musicians and the house organ, we filled the room with song and praise. After the ceremony, we gave our departed friend a standing ovation for a life well-​lived.
It turned out she was an inspiration to many, many people. Dying isn’t a bad thing. It’s part of life.

Great location, great parking, easy to access via transit. Open, airy «chapel» rooms of varying sizes. Alcira and staff there were very nice, appropriate, available. The venue is neutral enough so that anyone would feel comfortable there (not too religious, not too Castro-​like, etc.). Great area in front for people to gather before the service.
My only criticism and I heard this from several people: The worst job they’d ever seen on a body for an open casket. My friend died of a heart attack. I’m not sure exactly who was in that coffin, but it didn’t look much like him and it did look pretty bad. If you’re going to use this service, you might not want an open casket.

Awesome parking lot in the castro!
$ 10.oo for the night, and your car will be watched by an extremely nice young guy in a little white booth that kind of looks like a playhouse.