Obituary of Richard C. Mulliken, PhD

Richard Champlin Mulliken, PhD, beloved husband of Teresa C. Mulliken, passed away Sunday, Dec. 23, 2018 at home with his family in North Harpersfield NY. He was 83.Born on November 25, 1935, in Fall River, MA, Dick was the son of Champlin Burritt Mulliken of Pelham Manor, NY and Katherine Beck Mulliken of Milwaukee, WI. 

Dick grew up on a 100 acre farm, 10 miles from the sea in Killingsworth, CT where he attended a one-room schoolhouse, and developed a life-long love of sailing and the outdoors. He briefly attended Yale University, and received a bachelor’s degree from Goddard College in Plainfield, VT in 1956. He moved to New York City, where he was part of the early folk music scene in the West Village. He received his doctorate in Psychology from Yeshiva University and trained at the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis (NPAP) and the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR). He settled in Yorktown Heights, Westchester, NY and became Director of Treatment Services at New Hope Guild Center in Brooklyn, NY and later moved to Roosevelt Island, NY. His spent his career in New York City as a Freudian psychoanalyst in private practice and training analyst. Though he later renounced many of the ideas of Freudianism, he remained devoted to his identity as a reader and intellectual, and kept a close attachment to helping people and the ideas of humanism.

Dick married Teresa C. Goodsell Mulliken on January 16, 1993.  After retiring from private practice, Dick and Teresa moved to Delaware County, NY where they purchased a house in North Harpersfield and together turned it into a home. Over time he added on a library and horse barn that he proudly built himself. He continued his love for the outdoors, sailing on the Long Island Sound and lakes, hiking, and canoe trips. Though a quiet person, he enjoyed spending time with his Bedford family neighbors and other dear friends.  He enjoyed mowing the lawn on his tractor, puttering about in his work shed, and tending the shrubs and plantings he and Teresa put in around the house.  Dick often talked about his belief that the strength of American democracy was farming and the communities built around farms.

Dick shared his passion for ideas, folk music and politics with many. He became Democratic Party chair for the town of Harpersfield and a member of the Delaware County Democratic Committee. He was proud of the small role he played in Kirsten Gillibrand’s election to the US House. He was an active member of the Colonel Harper Grange in Harpersfield for many years, was on the board of the North Harpersfield Cemetery, and attended the Jefferson United Methodist Church.  

Though he would likely never have shared it outside of his family, Dick was a descendent of Roger Edgerton, a soldier of the American Revolution who survived imprisonment on the British prison ship Jersey, and Nathaniel Mulliken, an 18th century clockmaker whose Lexington, MA shop and home were burned by the British army on their retreat from Concord to Boston.  He was also the descendent of Patrick Cudahy, founder of the Cudahy meat-packing business.  He was the grandson of Harry Burritt Mulliken, a Beaux Arts architect, many of whose New York City apartment buildings and hotels were noted for their striking visual and practical features.

Richard is survived by his loving wife Teresa C. Mulliken of North Harpersfield, NY, two sons from former marriages and a daughter-in-law; John Champlin Mulliken and Arianne Jessica Chernock of Brookline, MA and Adam Simon Mulliken of Nyack, NY, and two grandchildren. He is also survived by his brother and sister.

A ceremony will be held at 11:00 AM on December 29th, 2018 at Jefferson Methodist Church in Jefferson, NY, a memorial service with a reception to follow.  In lieu of flowers please send contributions in memory of Richard to the North Harpersfield Community Hall, ℅ Wendy Guile, 16 Alcott Lane, Davenport, New York 13750.