Student Rewards Teacher’s Faith, Turns New-Car Jest Into Reality

Accounting teacher Larry Lease was only kidding when he told his students that when they got rich, they could show their appreciation by buying him a new Porsche.

Lease thought one of his former Shasta College students was just continuing the joke when the student e-mailed him last May asking him what color he wanted.

But when Robert Sullivan came to visit Lease this week, he arrived with a burgundy Porsche convertible, valued at $50,000 and registered in Lease’s name.

“He had faith in me,” said Sullivan, 36, who now lives in Kentucky. “He always was there to support me.”

Sullivan, who kept in touch with Lease after taking his class, didn’t have a steady path to success. He was unemployed, sleeping in his car for part of 1989. But by 1992, he was working for a firm that became Commerce One in 1997.

The company later went public, and Sullivan became a multimillionaire.

Earlier this week, Sullivan called Lease to say he was coming to town and invited him to lunch. He showed up at Shasta College with the new car.

“It’s just too nice,” Lease said. “My body just aches from laughing and smiling.”