John McMullen, BC museum benefactor

He raised the bar for artistic excellence and breadth for Boston College and has been credited with bringing NHL hockey to New Jersey. The benefactor of the McMullen Museum of Art and former owner of the New Jersey Devils, John J. McMullen had a passion for the artistic and the athletic. He died on Friday at 87 years of age.

McMullen, a former BC trustee, made a generous gift donation to the McMullen Museum in 1996 in memory of his parents, Charles S. and Isabella V. McMullen for whom the museum is named.

His son, Peter, enrolled at the University, said University Chancellor Rev. J. Donald Monan, S.J., who was good friends with McMullen.

"[McMullen] was a really engaging, interested, and interesting person. He was involved in so many things," he said. "He was a vigorous athlete, interested in athletics all his life and yet was an art connoisseur and major collector of art all through his life."

McMullen had an avid interest in students and their interests, said Nancy Netzer, art history professor and director of the McMullen Museum.

"He cared so deeply about young people and he wanted so much for this museum to be a resource for students. I talked to him at least once a week and his first question was always, 'Are the kids coming in?'

"He saw this was a place to educate students. Even students who weren't taking fine arts could learn about the arts, something he didn't learn until he was a graduate student in Switzerland. He didn't want students here to miss out," Netzer said.

She said his interest in sharing his love of art with students extended to exhibition openings, a time when students usually fell into an easy conversation with him.

"When he was at the opening, he always used to sit on the bench by the inside of the doorway, and students would come and sit next to him and talk to him very naturally," she said.

Several exhibitions have opened at the museum since his donation in 1996, such as "Saints and Sinners" in 1999, "Reflections in Black: Art and Activism" in 2003, and "Matta: Making the Invisible Visible" in 2004, all of which have been praised by local publications like The Boston Globe and The New York Times.

Netzer said McMullen always had an international vision for the exhibitions that would be displayed at the museum.

"We've done more and more exhibitions and ever more ambitious exhibitions," she said. "He always wanted us to be international and wide in our range of artistic genres."

She added that the museum will continue in that direction. The current exhibition, The Power of Conversation: Jewish Women and Their Salons, will be on display until Dec. 4.

The McMullen Museum will continue to grow physically in its benefactor's absence, with a possible expansion in Devlin Hall where it is currently located. This expansion, Netzer says, reflects McMullen's goal.

"He was very interested in the faculty of the University organizing exhibitions and making the museum an integral part of the University and its research mission, not an add-on," she said.

Both Netzer and Monan attested to McMullen's generous and magnetic character.

"He was the kind of benefactor or patron saint that any museum director would want to have. Just a wonderful friend," said Netzer.

"He was not only a friend of the school, but also close friend of mine and I just admired him so much and appreciated so much his outlook on life and the variety of his talents and abilities," said Monan.

McMullen also spread his influence in the sporting world as owner of the New Jersey Devils from 1982-2000. The team won two Stanley Cups during that time, moving from Colorado to the Meadowlands in the Garden State.

He sold the franchise to the YankeeNets sports holding company in 2000 for $175 million. McMullen also owned the Houston Astros from 1979-1992.

"As we grieve the passing of John McMullen, we celebrate his life of extraordinary accomplishment and the formidable contribution he made to the success of the National Hockey League," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. "His foresight brought a franchise to New Jersey and his fervent support helped build the Devils into champions. Our deepest condolences go to his family and to the Devils' organization, which has lost its cherished patriarch."

McMullen is survived by his wife Jacqueline, two sons, and a daughter.