Funeral services will be held Thursday for Bernie Sullivan of Fall River, a prominent newspaper editor, and later the public information officer for the Bristol County Sheriff's Office.  He died Friday at the age of 83.

According to the Herald News, Sullivan was ordained as a priest in 1958, but by 1969 he was a reporter, hired by the Providence Journal. He worked for the Journal during the 1970's, and began supervising its Massachusetts bureaus in Fall River and Attleboro in 1977.

He became editor of the Herald News in 1998. He was described as a taskmaster by former employees, but someone who cared about his community, advocating for the homeless and those addicted by drugs.

Sullivan later went to work as public information officer for Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, but still stayed connected to the media scene writing and airing commentaries for the local news program at Fall River Cable T-V, and at radio station WSAR.

Sullivan spent more than 20 years with the Sheriff's Department.  Sheriff Thomas Hodgson told the Herald News, Sullivan as a "very kind and giving person. He was always trying to do something for the inmates to make their lives better."

Calling hours for Sullivan will be Wednesday, from 4-8pm at the Hathaway Community Home for Funerals on Buffinton Street in Somerset. His funeral mass will be Thursday, 10am at St. Mary's Cathedral on Spring Street in Fall River. Burial will be private.

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