Since moving to Westport in 2003 with newborn twins, John Suggs has been an active community member.
He served on the Representative Town Meeting, and ran for 1st selectman as an independent in 2017.
John Suggs
He’s been involved with Assumption Church, Little League baseball and youth basketball. His family hosted A Better Chance scholars.
Professionally, Suggs worked in asset management analysis, public policy and community development,
Yet some of his most satisfying achievements have come in forensic genetic genealogy. His Family Orchard business helps adult adoptees, and birth parents and siblings, find each other.
One search took 9 years to solve. It involved a birth mother of an abandoned 3-month old — who was then 91 years old.
Twelve years ago, adult adoptee Morgan Zo Callahan asked Suggs to help him find his birth father.
Morgan Zo Callahan
Suggs spent 7 years on the search. Along the way he discovered that Callahan — who had been raised white — was fathered by a Black Haitian named Lionel Durand.
Durand was no longer alive. he died when Callahan was 17.
But he had led a remarkable life. Lionel Durand was the son of Haiti’s last pre-World War II diplomatic consul to France, and a member of the French Resistance in the first 2 years of German occupation.
He was captured twice — and escaped twice from the Gestapo. He fled to the US, where he served on the French desk of Voice of America, broadcasting to occupied France.
A friend of Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau, Durand went on to report from the world’s hot spots as Newsweek’s Paris bureau chief.
Lionel Durand, behind USSR Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev.
He died at just 40, after being injured by a tear gas bomb that exploded while he covered the violence in the Casbah during the Algerian War of Independence.
Durand posthumously received the George Polk Award for “best reporting, requiring exceptional courage and enterprise abroad,” from his peers at the Overseas Press Club of America.
After finding who Callahan’s father was, Suggs helped him meet members of his family.
Lionel Durand
Suggs then assisted Callahn on his first book on the subject of his search and its aftermath. It was called “Revelation and Healing: A Father and Son Reunion.” Suggs also wrote the afterword.
When the book was published, Callahan insisted that all royalties go to a Jesuit charity in Haiti.
Readers were captivated by Callahan’ story. Many urged him to write a second book — about his father.
The result — “Liberty Loving Lion: Unexpected Company of Lionel Durand” — was published last week.
Its royalties too will be donated to Faith in Action, in Haiti.
The book tells Durand’s remarkable story, often in his own strong voice.
“This book is Morgan’s tribute to his father: a man he never knew. A proud Haitian,” Suggs says.
“It is the story of Haiti, right up to this moment.
“It is also the story of his and other Black men and women fighting in the French Resistance where, because of the color of their skin, they could not easily ‘go underground’ and hide. And the Nazis had a pathological hatred and fear of Black people.”
It is a story too, Suggs adds, that will “help raise desperate funding for the people of Haiti.
“It is a story of one man’s lifetime, which took us over a dozen years to discover and write. It is a story that needs to be told.”
At last, it has been.
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What a fascinating story. Congrats John on its publication.
What an astonishing life story – one that has somehow remained shrouded until now. Thanks, Morgan and John, for bringing Lionel Durand into the light. Nice work!
Wonderful Story John and Morgan! Thank you Dan for sharing!
A fascinating historical journey, uniquely pieced together from quotes by political and artistic leaders that take the reader through periods of battle-torn French, Algerian and Haitian history. Special kudos to John for his unparalleled research capabilities. Blessings to former-but-always Jesuits, John and Morgan, for donating their profits to much-needed Haiti.
Thanks John for all you do what’s a great story
That is an absolutely fascinating story.
What an amazing story that would not have been told had not John answered Morgan’s call to find his biological father. Imagine learning that your father had fought in the French Resistance during WW2 and was an educated and eminent journalist born in, of all places, Haiti! How wonderful that Morgan found relatives who welcomed him into his father’s family. and how wonderful that proceeds from this book will go to the long suffering people of Haiti.
PS From working with John myself, I know that he doesn’t give up. Thank you John. Here’s to the DNA!
Great and informative work John!
What a great story. This is an excellent example of John’s tenaciousness when it comes to research. Not only does he dig and dig (for years) into his subject, but he also immerses himself in the history and culture of the time period involved in order to interpret his subject’s story and to find the next rock to look under. His instincts are amazing. I know this via the collaborations I’ve had with John over the years.
Congrats to John as he ends this part of a long journey. However, knowing John, it’s not over yet. He’ll continue checking the databases for newly-added info on Lionel Durand, at least for another few decades.
I am the daughter of the 91 year old woman that John helped to find her mother. Mom (Florence Bacus Symonowicz) always said her mother “abandoned” her when she was 3 months old. Raised by her father and paternal grandmother, Mom never was interested in finding her own mother when I asked John to help. He was able to find out she was about 15 years old when Mom was born, and located some cousins who said their family searched for years to find her. . They never knew she had a baby, and she just disappeared off the planet in 1923, never to be seen or heard from again. Mom had a hard time accepting this until I explained my work in Los Angeles with high-risk pregnant women enrolled in the Nurse Family Partnership Program I ran who often suffered and battled perinatal mood disorders. She was lucky her mom made sure she was safe before she most likely killed herself due to depression. It took my mom months to come to grips with this, and one day she simply said “I feel bad for hating my mother for so long. She didn’t deserve it.”. Mom died at age 93 finally knowing the truth.
I was thrilled for John on the completion of his book Liberty Loving Lion. The timing of this book couldn’t be more relevant and needed in a time when we need to learn more about courages individuals.
As a retired Executive Director of a Holocaust and Human Rights Educational Center. I spent over twenty five years celebrating and introducing teachers to those extraordinary individuals who risked their lives to save others. These individuals were called righteous among the nations. I was honored to learn that Lionel
Durand was one of those s individuals.
Congratulations John!
This was a wonderful post to read for two reasons. John Suggs reunited me with the granddaughter of a friend of my grandmothers. Since I do not have permission to use her name I will just explain the circumstances. My grandmother’s friend had a disabled daughter and sadly she could not care for both her daughter and infant granddaughter. My mother used to offer respite care for the precious baby girl. Eventually the family made the decision that adoption was the most loving choice. Eventually I was given her sterling Silver baby cup. John Suggs was able to connect me with the now adult woman and her family. It was all in God’s timing. We had planned to meet again but before I was able to make the return trip to Connecticut my newly found friend was called home by the Lord. I will be forever grateful to John and the Lord who made the reunion possible.
Now comes another coincidence or perhaps God incident.
Charlie and I were married in May of 1966. Part of our Honeymoon was spent in Port -Au-Price Haiti. Haile Selassie Emperor of Ethiopia had visited just the month before, Papa Doc Duvalier was in power and two years before had declared himself in power for life. We were carefully escorted everywhere we went. Several people had been killed in the town square just days before we arrived. To say the least it was an usual destination for a Honeymoon. Charlie does not remember exactly why the Travel agent suggested Haiti but we both vaguely remember that he had a connection in Haiti and thought it would be helpful if we decided to include Haiti. I will end this post by saying that we have some documentation and names of a few people and places and even costs. We both would be pleased to share what we do have because you never know what a small clue might hold a treasure for someone. We remember the people with both sympathy and admiration. Poverty was evident. If what we have might be of interest to John or Mr. Callahan we would be happy to share. I will be ordering both books immediately and will spend time looking at the Faith in action Web Site. Thank you we had fun last night remembering our Honeymoon and time in Haiti.
So grateful to see these comments which are encouraging and add to my esteem of my co-author, John Suggs, my dear friend,
Mary and Charlie, we would be thrilled to receive any information you would like to share. Blessings to all. Thank you, Dan!
Respectfully, Morgan Zo Callahan morganzc@hotmail.com