Inducted in 2017
Attorney
Father of Two Prep Graduate

It has been said of certain individuals with deep ties to Fordham that they “bleed maroon.”  In the case of William H. Mulligan Jr., Prep Class of 1966, perhaps his blood runs just a little marooner. Sure he attended Fordham Prep, Fordham University, and Fordham Law; and sure, his father attended Fordham University and Fordham Law before him. But even more than this, there is the matter of his middle initial — the H.  That H stands for Hughes — and not just any Hughes: Archbishop John Hughes. By collateral descendance, William Mulligan is a distant relative of Fordham’s founder. And, to add just one more level of connection, as of the 2017 Induction Ceremony, he joins his ancestor as a member of the Fordham Prep Hall of Honor. 

William Mulligan was born in the Bronx in 1948. His father, William Mulligan Sr., was an attorney, and also served as the dean of Fordham Law School from 1956-1971. His mother, Roseanna Connelly Mulligan, was a homemaker who had been a civilian secretary with the New York offices of the Counter-Intelligence Corps during WWII.

Bill grew up on Marion Avenue in the Bronx, in North Pelham, and in Bronxville along with his older sister Anne and his younger brother, Stephen, Prep, Class of 1969 and Fordham Law, Class of 1977.

Bill attended his Bronxville parish grammar school, St. Joseph’s, before entering Fordham Prep in September of 1962 as a member of the homeroom of fellow Hall of Honor inductee, Fr. Francis Fahey, SJ. During his Hughes Hall years, Bill played tennis and football, was a member of the cheering squad, wrote for the Rampart, and was involved with the spiritual and charitable dimensions of the Prep with the sodalities and the Sanctuary Society. He graduated Fordham Prep in 1966, but given his legacy, he would never stray far from alma mater, completing his undergraduate years in 1970 and earning his JD in 1974.

On October 30, 1976, William Mulligan Jr. married Mary Elizabeth Schramm, an alumna of Marymount, Boca Raton, and a buyer for Lord & Taylor’s. While the ceremony surprisingly did not take place at the University Church, it was nonetheless officiated by Msgr. Ralph Tapia, at that time a Fordham University professor. William and Mary Elizabeth would raise four children: Jenny, William III, Kate, and Rory.  William III would graduate from the Prep in 1997, Rory in 2002. Both Rory and his sister Kate would also spend their undergraduate years at Fordham, Lincoln Center, Classes of 2006 and 2004 respectively.

Since his Fordham Law days, Mulligan has enjoyed a successful career as a well-respected attorney. As his father before him, he sees his work as a way of putting into practice his love of country and concern for his fellow citizen. He is currently a partner in the firm of Bleakly Platt & Schmidt, specializing in commercial law, trusts and estates litigation, defamation, employment discrimination. Before joining Bleakly Platt, he spent ten years with the New York firm of Rogers & Wells.

With all his ties to Fordham, William Hughes Mulligan Jr., has never sought to take, but always sought to give: in so many ways a “man for others.” He has been unstinting in his support of the Prep and its mission, and generous with his time and talent.

Fordham Prep — and University for that matter — will always be proud to name William Hughes Mulligan, Esq. as one of their own. Without a doubt, he is true maroon, through and through.