Thomas Stephen Gilligan, Jr., ‘Steve’, 60,  of Sarasota, FL; formerly of Lee’s Summit, MO passed away on April 9, 2019.

Born in Syracuse, NY, he was the son of Thomas and Janice (Murphy) Gilligan. In addition to his parents, he is survived by his children, Kathryn, Jack and George. Predeceased by a sister, Nancy Gilligan, he leaves behind his sisters, Catherine Reynolds and husband Louis, Sheila Josephson and husband Donald, and Janice Rinck as well as nephews, Connor, Bradley, and Evan and nieces, Sarah, Caitlin, Alexis and Nicole.

Steve graduated from Rockhurst College in 1988 and began working for Sprint using his finance and economic skills in a Senior Market Research position. He went on to own Summit Travel of Lee’s Summit and later sold it to another agency.

A former City Council Member for Lee’s Summit from 1994-1997, he was instrumental in foreseeing the need for investment in infrastructure due to unprecedented city growth and believed the burden should not fall to the residents. As such, he worked to increase water tap fees for developers and led a successful campaign for the passage of bonds used to expand and improve the water and sewer systems. He also pushed for approvals for more retail development so that the tax burden would not need to be carried by the residents.

He then became a full time father where he was the ultimate fan of anything and everything his children were involved in from ping-pong tournaments, dance class, piano lessons, soccer, golf, football, lacrosse and skiing. He enjoyed being involved and supporting all of their activities and was very proud of them.

Steve was an avid skier, a pilot and enjoyed playing golf with family and friends.

Services will be held at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Osprey, FL on May 4, 2019 at 10 am.