John J. McMullen, the former owner and chairman of the New Jersey Devils National Hockey League team, and Irvin D. Reid, Montclair State's president from 1989 to 1997, will be awarded honorary doctoral degrees at the 2003 commencement ceremony on Friday, May 9, at the Continental Airlines Arena. This year 2,655 candidates for graduation will be honored.

McMullen, who will receive a doctor of letters, honoris causa, was cited by the University's Board of Trustees for contributing "enormously to the economy and enjoyment of the citizens of the United States, and especially New Jersey, through his ownership of, or partnership in, the New Jersey Devils hockey team, the New York Yankees baseball team and the Houston Astros baseball team, as well as sports-related businesses such as Home Sports Entertainment, Prime Sports Network and Houston Sports Association."

John McMullen

McMullen has strong Montclair ties: He is a 1936 graduate of Montclair High School and his daughter, Catherine McMullen-Blake, is a 1985 Montclair State graduate.

Renowned in the business world for his leadership in ventures including shipping lines, oil tanker operations, naval architecture and marine engineering, McMullen is perhaps best known as the owner of the New Jersey Devils. McMullen moved the team--originally named the Colorado Rockies--to New Jersey in 1982 and changed the name to the Devils after the mythical creature that haunts the Pine Barrens. His patience, dedication and commitment to the Devils were rewarded with two Stanley Cup championships, in 1995 and 2000.

He was chairman and majority owner of the Houston Astros baseball team and the Houston Sports Association, which operates the Astrodome, from 1979 to 1992 and was a limited partner in the New York Yankees baseball team in 1974.

McMullen was a visionary in sports entertainment and programming. In 1989, he and two cable television executives formed a partnership to produce, market and sell regional sports programming in selected areas of the country. The partnership acquired the assets of Home Sports Entertainment, the major regional sports network in the Southeast, an interest in the Sunshine Network in Florida and majority control of Prime Sports Network in Denver.

For his many contributions to the sporting world, McMullen was inducted into the New Jersey Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

McMullen's achievements outside the sports arena are equally impressive. In 1958 he established John J. McMullen Associates, a firm of naval architects and marine engineers, one of the most successful naval architectural firms in the world. In 1967 he organized MPR Associates, a nuclear consulting firm. In 1968, he was elected as chairman, president and chief executive officer of United States Lines, one of the country's leading shipping companies. He transformed the company into one of the major container ship operators in the world. In 1974, the Bank of England retained him as president and chief executive officer of Burmah Oil Tankers, a company he reorganized and transformed into an efficient and profitable operation. Following that, he returned to McMullen Associates and was involved in the conception and development of Dubai Drydock in Dubai and numerous shipping operations in the Middle East. In 1972 he purchased Norton Lilly International, a leading steamship agency company with 30 offices across the United States.

McMullen, who was commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the 1980s, has received numerous awards and honors, including the United States Naval Academy's Distinguished Graduate Award in 2000; Monmouth College's 1992 Distinguished Business Leader Award; and an honorary doctor of science degree from the Webb Institute.

McMullen earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1940, and he served in the U.S. Navy from 1940 to 1954, resigning with the rank of commander. During his naval service he earned a master of science degree in naval architecture and marine engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a doctor of mechanical engineering degree from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

He is married to Jacqueline J. Everhart McMullen. The couple has three children: Peter, Catherine and John, Jr., and five grandchildren: James Blake, Bridget Blake, Timothy Blake, Elise McMullen and Peter McMullen Jr.

Irvin D. Reid

Reid, who will receive a doctor of laws, honoris causa, was cited by the University's Board of Trustees for leading a "successful groundbreaking effort to obtain University status, making Montclair State the first of the state colleges to become a university. He provided outstanding leadership in several initiatives, including global education, the honors program, the new student experience and the new advising structure embedded in the Academic Success Center that strongly reinforced Montclair State's status among higher education institutions."

Reid has been president of Wayne State University, the third largest university in Michigan, since 1997. A national research university with urban teaching and service missions in metropolitan Detroit, Wayne State has an annual budget of almost $650 million, nearly 32,000 students and programs of instruction offered through 14 schools and colleges.

At Wayne State, Reid created the university's first foundation, focusing on the institution's first major capital campaign, and led the process by which Wayne State has been designated as one of 11 SmartZones by the state of Michigan. He established the perinatology research branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at the university; the first NIH branch for health care to be established outside of the Washington, D.C. area. Under his leadership, the state of Michigan established NextEnergy, a research initiative to explore alternatives to fossil fuel. He completed the first Wayne State Facility Master Plan and has overseen construction of new facilities for the campus.

Reid was president of Montclair State from 1989 to 1997, overseeing the University's successful transformation to university status in 1994. He improved the campus facilities, including construction of Dickson Hall and a major expansion of the library; initiated and completed the University's first capital campaign; formed the state's first public-private partnership in the public sector to create Yogi Berra Stadium and Floyd Hall Ice Arena; and increased the assets of the MSU Foundation.

Prior to assuming MSU's presidency, Reid was dean of the School of Business Administration and John Stagmaier Professor of Economics and Business Administration at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

He has taught at Howard University, been a senior staff consultant for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and a Faculty Fellow at NASA, and taught or lectured at Drexel University, the Philadelphia College of Art and St. Joseph's University.

His numerous awards and honors include the first Austrian-American Medal (1996); Alpha Kappa Psi Business Society of Montclair State; Blue Key Service Award from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; Federal Faculty Fellow of the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business; and Phi Kappa Phi.

Reid earned bachelor of science and master of science degrees in psychology from Howard University; master of arts and doctoral degrees in business and applied economics from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School; and an executive certificate in educational management from Harvard University.

He is married to Pamela Trotman Reid, head of the Women's Studies Program and professor of psychology and education at the University of Michigan. The couple has two children: Nicole Reid Gore, an attorney, and I. Dexter Reid, an electrical and software engineer, and two grandchildren: Grace Gore and Zachary Gore.

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