Edward K Mullen '47 Receives Alumni of Distinction Award

Edward K. Mullen '47 belongs to what Tom Brokaw termed the "Greatest Generation." He was a student at the College when World War I1 broke out. Mullen joined the Army Air Forces and served as a pilot for three years. After the war, he returned to Syracuse to finish his degree in pulp and paper. While a student, he met his future wife, Joanne, at Syracuse University.

Upon graduating, Mullen worked for the Richard Gair Company, a manufacturer of paperboard. In 1958, he joined a family-owned company, Newark Boxboard, and in 1962, co-founded a separate company, Book Covers, Inc. Along the way, he and a business partner earned 10 patents dealing with paperboard structures.  By 1976, Mullen merged Box Covers, Inc., with Newark  Boxboard, bought several mills from Continental Can, and then acquired Newark Boxboard from its original owners. He turned this into the Newark Group, which uses vast amounts of waste
paper to make a variety of high-quality products, and employs hundreds of workers while promoting recycling. Today, we take recycling for granted. But Mullen's the Newark Group, as long ago as 1990, was using 10 percent of all wastepaper collected in the
United States when overall, only 30 percent of waste paper was being recycled throughout the country.

Mullen used his education, business instincts and hard work to build a successful business and develop a model for what today is a green and sustainable industry. He has demonstrated that the industrial use of waste paper can transform what was once waste
into products such as concrete forms, book covers, game boards, cereal boxes and paperboard.

Mullen has been a strong supporter of ESF and the Syracuse Pulp and Paper Foundation. He supported the Jahn Laboratory campaign and is a member of the 19 1 1 Society. He is also a staunch supporter of the Syracuse Pulp and Paper Foundation
(SPPF). As a paper science graduate he has given generously to the SPPF Endowment for Management Education in Paper Science and Engineering, and also supports the J. P. Clark Golf Tournament. 

In recognition of these achievements and contributions, the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Alumni Association proudly presents Edward K.
Mullen with the Graduate of Distinction Award.