Gene Mullin, Longtime San Mateo County Public Servant, Dies At 83

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — Gene Mullin, who served for many years in the state assembly representing San Mateo County and held various other leadership positions as a mayor, city councilmember and teacher, died at the age of 83 on Monday after a three-year battle with cancer.

Mullin represented the 19th District in the state assembly from 2002 to 2008, which followed a seven-year stint on the city council of South San Francisco, where he twice served as mayor.

According to a statement from the office of Mullin’s son, Kevin Mullin, who is the Speaker Pro Tempore of the state assembly, Mullin passed away at his South San Francisco home surrounded by his family.

“We are so very grateful for the many wonderful messages of support which have been received,” the family said in the statement. “His legacy on civic engagement lives on through the lives of his legions of students, as well as his children and grandchildren. He was our proverbial North Star and we’ll never be the same with him gone.”

A lifelong Bay Area resident, Mullin graduated from the University of San Francisco in 1960 and settled in South San Francisco in 1967, when he began teaching at South San Francisco High School. For the next 32 years, he taught government and coached basketball, winning several public education awards that included San Mateo County’s Teacher of the Year and the California Teachers Association’s State Teacher of the Year in Politics.

In 1972, Mullin was appointed to the South San Francisco Planning Commission, kicking off a lengthy public service career. Among the issues Mullin championed in the state assembly included writing or sponsoring legislation pushing for education reform and advocating for getting more young people involved in politics by allowing 17-year-olds to vote if they turned 18 by the general election.

Tributes poured in both on social media and from the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, who spoke about Mullin's life during their meeting on Tuesday.

“Gene Mullin was an inspiration to all of us,” said San Mateo County Manager Mike Callagy. “He was a leader in the political world and someone who I admired because he was a man that got things done. When he came to you with an issue, it was something that you always took to heart and knew that his heart and soul was into it.”

David Canepa, President of the Board of Supervisors, admired Mullin’s work in public service and said that his “heart was with the community.”

“Gene just had so many great relationships and was really able to do things to better our community,” Canepa said. “It’s a huge loss.”

Fabian Nunez, a former Speaker of the State Assembly, said on Twitter that Mullin was an "exemplary public servant."

"I watched firsthand as he helped us push forward some of the most critical reforms of our time including climate policy, minimum wage & healthcare," Nunez said. "He led with dignity, candor, selflessness and a heart of gold. We’ll miss him."

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, said that Mullin taught over 10,000 students and “wrote the gospel on education reform” while in the state assembly.

“I admired him and loved him,” Speier wrote on Twitter. “I had the good fortune to have him call me to share his thoughts on life and governance a few weeks before he died. It was his good bye call, as he referred to it. It will live in my heart for the rest of my life.”