Joseph E. Mullaney, Jr.

Joseph E. Mullaney, 87, passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, at his home in Vero Beach, Florida on Friday, January 22, 2021.

He was born on March 22, 1933, to Joseph and Beatrice Hancock Mullaney, during the height of the Great Depression. He grew up with four siblings and two parents in a 3-bedroom house with one bathroom.

Joe worked his way up from very humble beginnings in Fall River, a small mill town to the top of one of the world’s largest corporations.

Joe was a three-sport star athlete and class President and Valedictorian at Durfee High School. He went on to graduate with high honors from The College of the Holy Cross in 1955.

His mother, Beatrice Hancock Mullaney was the first woman probate judge in Massachusetts and graduated from B.U. Law school in 1928. She inspired Joe to become a lawyer. He graduated from Harvard Law School with high honors in 1958. To pay for college and law school, Joe joined ROTC and served in the Air Force.

In 1960, Joe joined one of America’s most prestigious law firms: Jones Day, in Cleveland, Ohio.  In 1970, Joe joined the Federal Government, serving first as General Counsel to the Special Trade Representative and then as General Counsel to the Cost-of-Living Council. Both offices are part of the Executive Office of the President.

 Joe moved to Boston in 1972 when he joined Gillette as Associate General Counsel. He was appointed General Counsel in 1973, elected a Corporate Vice President in 1975, elected Senior Vice President, Legal in 1977 and a Director and Vice Chairman in 1990.

Joe was a member of the Massachusetts, Boston and American Bar Associations and served on the ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty. He was a member of the Council of the Business Law Section, Chairman of the Corporate Law Departments Committee and Chairman on the Task Force on Corporate Law Department Public Service Programs.

Charity and service were important to Joe. He was a Founding Donor of Smile Train, the world’s largest cleft charity, with whom he travelled to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, China and India.

Joe was active with many professional organizations and community affairs. He served as a director of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, as a director and former chairman of the Board of the New England Legal Foundation, and a director of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Park Street Corporation, the Greater Boston Legal Services Corporation, the World Affairs Council and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Boston Public Library.

In 1957, Joe married the love of his life, Rosemary Woodman, from Randolph, Mass. The family they built – and the 47-year marriage they cherished – were more important than all of Joe’s educational and business accomplishments put together.

Joe and Rosemary worked hard and sacrificed a lot to give their children childhoods that they never had. They financed 100+ years of secondary school and college tuition for their grandchildren.

In 1971, their only daughter, Maura, fell ill with a rare disorder called Stevens-Johnson syndrome. For the next two years, Joe and Rosemary did everything they could to save her, but she died in 1973, at the age of 10 leaving a void in the family that was never filled and a wound that never healed.

In 1972, Joe joined The Gillette Company and as he quickly rose through the ranks, Joe became a consummate “company man.” He would sing the Gillette jingle, “Look Sharp, Feel Sharp, Be Sharp” every morning while he shaved which really annoyed Rosemary. Joe’s 25 -year Gillette career culminated in 1990 when he was appointed as Vice Chairman of Gillette and a member of the Board of Directors.

When corporate raiders attempted several hostile takeovers of Gillette in the ‘80s, Joe led the legal team that successfully defended it and helped bring Warren Buffett on board as a White Knight.

Joe and Ro were fortunate to have the opportunity to travel all over the world on the Gillette jet, ultimately visiting 100+ countries and making friends everywhere they went.

But no matter how many distant lands they explored, Joe’s favorite place was always Westport Harbor in Massachusetts. His definition of happiness was sitting on his back terrace overlooking his beloved Westport River under a full moon, after a big family dinner, strumming his ukulele and singing his favorite song, John Denver’s Take Me Home Country Roads.

Joe grew up with four siblings who would all sing along as their mom played the piano and his dad played the ukulele.

Joe had a razor-sharp Irish wit and loved to tell jokes that would make you laugh and Irish toasts that could make you cry. Sometimes at the same time.

He was proud of his Irish ancestry. In 1998, he and Rosemary took the entire family to Ireland for a grand reunion of the Mullaney Clan in Boyle, Ireland. Hundreds of Mullaneys from all across America and Europe attended.

Joe had a big smile that could light up a room and a selfless, generous nature.  During his lifetime, Joe gave away millions of dollars while he drove a 14-year-old car and lived in the same house for the past 45 years.

Rosemary passed away, unexpectedly, in 2004, and it took a long time Joe to recover. But 8 years later, after a longtime family friend lost her husband, Joe developed a special relationship with a wonderful woman named Andrea Powning. She brought much joy and happiness to Joe and helped him, and his family, make the most out of his remaining 16 years.

Over the last three years of his life, Joe co-wrote with Maria Canfield, an autobiography entitled: A Man from Fall River.

In his introduction, Joe explains why he wrote the book: “I have been thinking a lot about things lately, such as: have I lived a good life? have I done the best I could with the time and talent I was given? Have I helped anybody? Or hurt anybody? What kind of husband was I? What kind of father? Have I made contributions to my friends, to my neighbors, to my community?”   

In his book, in his own modest voice, Joe answers all of these questions and tells his story with all of its ups and downs and the amazing journey it was.

The last line of his book sums it all up:

“All things considered; I think I’ve been a very lucky guy.”

Joe is survived by four sons: Joseph E. Mullaney III, Esq., Brian F. Mullaney and his wife Cricket, Sean W. Mullaney and his wife Stacy and Evan H. Mullaney. And eight very smart, talented, and accomplished grandchildren: Katherine, joseph E. Mullaney, IV, Madeleine, Maura, Charlie, Quinn, Elizabeth and Jack.

A service will be held in Westport Harbor, MA when conditions allow. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a tax deductible donation in Joe’s name to the Westport River Watershed Alliance.

No one knows if there is music in heaven. But if there is, we know what was playing on January 22, 2021…

Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, growin’ like a breeze

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

Take me home, country roads

Arrangements by Thomas S. Lowther Funeral Home & Crematory, Vero Beach.