San Francisco Trees - the Green Side of a Businessman

I often write about SVASE, especially the VC Breakfast Club series I sometimes moderate. These session are typically hosted by corporate sponsors, often Law– or Accounting firms. One of our gracious sponsors in the City is Mike Sullivan, Director at the Law firm Howard Rice Nemerovsky Canady Falk & Rabkin (wouldn’t it be nice to have Web 2.0 style names for lawfirms? ) Throughout these sessions I came to know Mike somewhat – or so I thought.

Well, I was wrong, I’ve only known the businessman / lawyer. Today the San Francisco Chronicle introduces the “other” Mike: the nature-lover, tree-expert, tree-hugger one. “On a recent tour through Cole Valley, Sullivan passed a pop quiz with a perfect score — pointing out 10 trees from as many countries on just two blocks of 17th Street.” He knows the stories behind many a tree in San Francisco. “Just outside 1401 Shrader St., the former home of socialite Pat Montandon, is the leftover trunk of the tree, which Montandon commissioned to be sculptured into a nearly 10-foot-tall angel.
“Urban legend has it,” Sullivan says, “that the sculptor was nearly fired when Montandon noticed that the angel’s face was strikingly similar to that of his girlfriend.”

Mike’s book, “Trees of San Francisco” breaks down a list of the best trees in each of the city’s neighborhoods, complete with where to find them. He does more than write about books; he and his fellow tree-lovers at Friends of the Urban Forest plant thousands of trees every year.

SF Trees is Mike’s personal yet tree-focused site. (Perhaps one of my Web 2.0–savy readers will volunteer to give the site a facelift)