by Courtney Stafford

Cream Ridge, NJ — Edward Kett Mullen, 94, of CreamRidge, N.J. died on August 24, 2017. Son of Edward Kett and Mary KinnearMullen, loving husband of Joanne Hilbish Mullen, Ed passed away at home ofnatural causes.

Family and friends are invited to attend a celebration ofEd’s life at the Happy Apple Inn on Friday, September 8 from 4-7 p.m., 29Imlaystown Road, Cream Ridge, N.J. (609)259-7889.

Ed was an avid outdoorsman and became an Eagle Scout inhis youth in Brooklyn, NY. His college education at the Forestry College of theState University of New York was interrupted by World War II where he attainedthe rank of First Lieutenant in the Army Air Force. He was a pilot of a B-29 aircraft in the Pacific, flying 31 missions fromthe island of Tinian. He returned to complete his college degree In Pulp andPaper Engineering in Syracuse, NY where he met and married Joanne Hilbish.

Their 70th wedding anniversary would have been October 11of this year.

In his professional life, Ed entered the pulp and paperindustry, and rose quickly through the ranks at Robert Gair Company andContinental Can Company, eventually becoming President and CEO of the NewarkGroup, which he built into one of the 200 largest privately held companies inthe U.S.

Ed built and grew Fair Winds Farm in Cream Ridge into oneof the foremost Standardbred racehorse breeding operations in the state. He wasa longtime summer resident of Bay Head, N.J. and member of the Bay Head YachtClub. He was a dedicated fisherman and kept a boat near the Manasquan Inlet.

Ed and Joanne donated their home, Walnford, the historicmill site in Upper Freehold Township, to the Monmouth County Park System in1985.

Ed is survived by his wife Joanne, his daughter Susan ofNew York City, his four sons, Jeffrey (Julie) of Middletown, NJ, Robert(Adriana) of Philadelphia, PA, Mark (Laura) of Cranbury, NJ and Matthew(Sarah)of Manhattan Beach, CA; 10 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to theMonmouth Conservation Foundation at P.O. Box 4150, Middletown, New Jersey 07748(732)-671-7000, or to the Syracuse Pulp and Paper Foundation at SUNY-ESF, OneForestry Drive, Syracuse, New York 13210, (315)-470-6592.