Dr Paul A Mullan

Dr Paul A Mullan

Dr. Paul A. Mullan, a retired Baltimore pediatrician who had also served in the air Force Medical Corps, died Sunday at Stella Maris Hospice of complications from a stroke.  He was 84.

The son of George Vaughn Mullan, who was supervisor of maintenance for the New York subway system, and Mary Calaghy Mullan, and administrative assistant, Paul Aloysius Mullan was born in New York City and raised in Brooklyn.

He was a graduate of St. Francis deSales School in Geneva, N.Y., and graduated in 1948 from Seton Hall Preparatory School in South Orange, N.J.

After earning a bachelor's degree in 1952 in chemistry, he enrolled at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, and after a year entered the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he earned a medical degree in 1957.

Dr. Mullan completed a rotating internship in 1958 at the Jersey City Medical Center in New Jersey, as well as a residency in pediatrics in 1959 at what is now Mercy Medical Center, where he was chief resident from 1959 to 1960.

From 1960 until retiring in the late 1990s, Dr. Mullan maintained a private practice at his Osler Drive office in Towson. He also was an attending physician and a member of the pediatric staff at the University of Maryland Medical Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Mercy Medical Center, Greater Baltimore Medical Center and what is now University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center, where he chaired the department of pediatrics from 1969 to 1979.

Dr. Mullan was an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland and the Johns Hopkins schools of medicine.

Dr. Mullan was commissioned a captain in the Air Force Medical Corps and was promoted to colonel. He was commanding officer from 1964 to 1967 of the 22nd Medical Service Squadron at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington. He later was assigned as a staff pediatrician to the 9019th Air Reserve Squadron at the Malcolm Grow Air Force Medical Center at Andrews Air Force Base. He was discharged with the rank of colonel in 1990.

Dr. Mullan and his wife made headlines in 1979 when they adopted a foundling who had been discovered earlier that year in a Towson apartment vestibule.

The child was originally named Joseph Francis Towson, or Joe Towson, by county police, and was cared for by Dr. Mullan, who at the time was living in the 3900 block of N. Charles St. After a two-day hearing to legally adopt the child, the Mullans named him Paul Edward Kennedy Mullan.

Their son, who became a photographer, died of a brain tumor in 2013. He was 34.

Dr. Mullan married Carol Kennedy in 1975. They lived in the Orchards neighborhood of North Baltimore.
Dr. Mullan was a powerboater, world traveler and a "sometimes golfer," said his wife, a retired schoolteacher. "His hobby was the Air Force. He loved the military."

Dr. Mullan was a communicant of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, 5200 N. Charles St., where a Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 11 a.m. Saturday.

He is survived by his wife.

The Baltimore Sun