William Cocke Mullen

I was so very sorry to hear of your brothers passing, he will be greatly missed. Bill was such a nice fellow and Fantastic teacher

Professor Mullen taught my "Writing and Thinking" orientation seminar when I came to Bard as a freshman in 1988. Since I had studied Latin for a year or two during the summer, I thought I would continue in college. I took his introduction to Latin course my first semester, but alas, was too intimidated (and distracted) to continue. I went on to major in Theater, with an attempted double major in Literature. (Theater took up far too much time.) Bill was a dear friend and great...

I wrote an email to Bill even before I started attending Bard College in the Fall of 2002. I had learned he ran the Bard/West Point Exchange and eagerly let him know I wanted to take part. As a conservative student with an interest in political and military affairs, Bill was a refuge and an intellectual mentor. After graduation, I spoke with him several times a year, and made numerous visits to his lovely apartment at the church rectory. Without question, my fondest memory was reading the...

Bill and I were close friends and fellow poets in college. Fond memories of climbing the Dunster House bell tower and taking bus rides to Northhampton to visit Ronnie and Maria Bannerjee. After 40 plus years out of touch, we got together again when my son Liam was looking at Bard. We enjoyed good times of renewal but far too few. He drafted me to read a section of the Iliad about the death of Patroclus at the Getty. My fondest new memory is of sitting with him and a gathering of his former...

I loved you like a father, Bill. I will miss you forever.

A brilliant researcher and excellent writer.

Bill and I were the best of buds, will miss him greatly.

Bill, your erudition, your conversation, your poems, and your gift for laughter will be

missed by all of us who knew you well and counted you as a friend.

Bill always loved words. By fourth grade he had a card file full of them. He liked reading the dictionary and boasted that he had found the longest word in the English language. It was in his file. The word he lorded over his siblings was antidisestablishmentarianism. In a way it defined him. He was oppositional and conservative politically but he loved challenging the establishment with outlier theories like Velikofskys catastrophism. He was the kind of person who enjoyed public speaking...