Edward Kett Mullen, 94, of Cream Ridge, N.J. passed away on Thursday, August 24 at home of natural causes.
Son of Edward Kett and Mary Kinnear Mullen, loving husband of Joanne Hilbish Mullen.
Family and friends are invited to attend a celebration of Ed’s life at the Happy Apple Inn on Friday, September 8 from 4 - 7 p.m., 29 Imlaystown Road, Cream Ridge, N.J. 609-259-7889.
Ed was an avid outdoorsman and became an Eagle Scout in his youth in Brooklyn, NY. His college education at the Forestry College of the State University of New York was interrupted by World War II where he attained the rank of First Lieutenant in the Army Air Force. He was a pilot of B-29 aircraft in the Pacific, flying 31 missions from the island of Tinian. He returned to complete his college degree In Pulp and Paper Engineering in Syracuse, NY where he met and married Joanne Hilbish.
Their 70th wedding anniversary would have been October 11 of this year. In his professional life, Ed entered the pulp and paper industry, and rose quickly through the ranks at Robert Gair Company and Continental Can Company, eventually becoming President and CEO of the Newark Group, which he built into one of the 200 largest privately held companies in the U.S.
Ed built and grew Fair Winds Farm in Cream Ridge into one of the foremost Standardbred racehorse breeding operations in the state. He was a longtime summer resident of Bay Head, NJ and member of the Bay Head Yacht Club.
He was a dedicated fisherman and kept a boat near the Manasquan Inlet. Ed and Joanne donated their home, Walnford, the historic mill site in Upper Freehold Township, to the Monmouth County Park System in 1985.
Ed is survived by his wife Joanne, his daughter Susan of New York City, his four sons, Jeffrey (Julie) of Middletown, NJ, Robert (Adriana) of Philadelphia, PA, Mark (Laura) of Cranbury, NJ and Matthew(Sarah) of Manhattan Beach, CA; 10 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Monmouth Conservation Foundation at P.O. Box 4150, Middletown, New Jersey 07748 732-671-7000, or to the Syracuse Pulp and Paper Foundation at SUNY-ESF, One Forestry Drive, Syracuse, New York 13210, 315-470-6592.
Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Edward Kett Mullen.
(SBOANJ)