Patrick B. Mullen (1941–2026)

Dr. Patrick B. Mullen, Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University (OSU), died on Thursday, November 5, 2026 in Columbus, Ohio. He was eighty-five.

Dr. Mullen was born in Beaumont, Texas in 1941. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin, Pat joined OSU Department of English in 1969 where he taught many courses on folklore, music, and twentieth-century American literature and directed dozens of dissertations. While there, he co-founded the Center for Folklore Studies (with Amy Shuman) and served as its first director. He retired from OSU in 2005 as a full professor and continued to lecture and publish for many years.

Pat is author of I Heard the Old Fishermen Say: Folklore of the Texas Gulf Coast; Listening to Old Voices: Folklore, Life Stories, and the Elderly; co-author of Lake Erie Fishermen: Work, Identity, and Tradition; The Man Who Adores the Negro: Race and American Folklore; and articles on folk belief, legend, folk song, gender, and other aspects of American folklore. He is also co-editor of Juneteenth Texas: Essays on African-American Folklore. One of his great passions and scholarly interests was music, and in his last published book, Right to the Juke Joint: A Personal History of American Music (University of Illinois Press, 2018), he wrote about his years as a fan of American music of all sorts.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Dr. Roseanne Rini Mullen who received her Ph.D. from the OSU Department of English in 1997. He is also survived by his brother, David Mullen, sister Linda Katz, and many cousins, nieces, and nephews. Roseanne is not currently in a position to receive flowers, food or other gifts. She will have a memorial for Pat at a future date. You can send condolences by email to rini@columbus.rr.com or by mail to:

The Cottage at Wexner Heritage Village, 1149 College Ave, Room 18, Columbus, OH 43209
or
165 Brevoort Rd, Columbus, OH 43214

If you would like, you can contribute to the Patrick B. Mullen Endowment Fund. The fund was established on the occasion of Pat’s retirement in recognition of his contribution and influence on the folklore program and on folklore students at OSU and beyond. The Mullen Endowment is a way of continuing a legacy of excellence in folklore not only at OSU but throughout the nation and world. Money from the Mullen Endowment helps to support OSU folklore graduate students.