John Martin Cullen

John Martin Cullen passed away on Thursday June 12, 2025 at the age of 87 after a brief hospitalization at Paoli Memorial Hospital, surrounded by his loving family.

John (or Jack, Marty, Jackie, Brother Christopher Martin, or Papa) was a loving, kind, very tall, bright, generous, and funny man with an exceptional memory, and he was grateful for the life he got to live. He wed Marilyn Brune in 1972 and would often say he was lucky to have married his best friend. He loved his three children and the wonderful people they brought into his life over the last 50 years. John was a Roman Catholic who held a deep faith in God's love. He worked for a long time - starting as a runner on Wall Street in 1953 with a bunch of other teenagers from the Bronx, and later as a teacher, scientist, and attorney - officially retiring in 2023 at the age of 85.

His favorite thing in life was his family with whom he loved spending his time and making memories. One of his favorite places to do this was down the shore at the family cottage in Avalon, NJ where he enjoyed evenings at the beach, boating, calling SeaTow, casually dropping well-timed Latin phrases, trying to make his grandsons laugh, and family dinners on the patio watching Phillies and Eagles games, often shouting colorful critiques of their performances. He also loved keeping tabs on his extended family - his sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews, and godchildren scattered around the US and abroad. John loved reading, in his later years devouring legal and action thriller novels on his kindle.

Born to Bridget and Martin Cullen (Irish immigrants from County Mayo and County Tipperary) in Manhattan, NY in 1937, he was raised with sisters Mary and Betty in the Bronx, along with his cousins the Daly sisters across the hall. He shared stories of playing stick ball in the streets with his neighbors (his mother often making him and his compatriots pray the Rosary before being allowed out), absconding to his room with fresh baked soda bread, and generally being a "pain in the ass" toward his sisters and cousins. His father passed away when John was twelve.

After three years at Cardinal Hayes High School, he left the Bronx at age 16 with his mother's permission to go to Barrytown where he joined the novitiate of the De La Salle Christian Brothers. There he honed his academic and basketball skills and began a series of lifelong friendships with his fellow LaSallian Brothers. He was invested with the religious habit on September 7, 1955 at St. Joseph's Novitiate in Barrytown. He loved "the Brothers" and often expressed a deep and abiding gratitude for the moral and scholarly instruction he received and for the friendships he made.

He spent almost half of his life as a student, both as a LaSallian brother and a layperson. At Catholic University he obtained a Bachelor's degree in chemistry, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. From there he attended Seton Hall University where he achieved his PhD in Biochemistry. While still in the Brothers, he taught various subjects from Latin to Chemistry at Queen of Peace in New Jersey, among many other assignments.

After much discernment and a brief trial period as a lay person, he resigned from the brothers and moved west (closer to the family of his sister Mary) to begin a post-doctorate fellowship in Immunophysiology at Stanford University (studying the Acanthaster planci starfish!).

Returning to the east coast, he met Marilyn, the love of his life, in Spring Lake NJ when he asked her to dance. They were later married in 1972 at Spring Lake in front of family and friends, and began family life together in an apartment in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, where John worked as a research scientist for SmithKline & French. In the late 70's John attended law school at night at Temple University, often commuting home late on the R5 to Paoli. He subsequently moved into the legal department at SmithKline Beckman where he was grateful for the mentorship of his colleagues. In the 90's John moved on from SmithKline (where he had risen to Vice President, Associate General Counsel) to become the COO of IBAH, a contract research organization, and, for the remainder of his career, in pharmaceutical consulting and private legal practice.

If his posthumously inspected credit card and bank statements are to be believed, he spent the last several decades sneakily donating to an ever increasing list of charities related to helping children and the less fortunate. A sweet man who in his later years often expressed astonishment and delight about the long life he got to live ("I can't believe I'm still here!" and "It's a long way from 137th street."), John once summed up his attitude thusly: "My personal philosophy-and I expect this from my kids as well-is that everything an individual does should contribute to making them a better person and society a better place. All of our actions should make some contribution."

John is predeceased by his parents Bridget and Martin Cullen. He is survived by his loving wife Marilyn, his children Timothy, Stephanie and Michael (Layla), his grandsons Wynn Martin Cullen and Jack O'Niel Cullen, Wynn's mother Bryanna Millis, and his sisters Mary Merkert and Betty Murray.

A Catholic Mass will be held at St. Patrick's Church in Malvern on Saturday, November 15 at 11:30am (visitation at 10:30am), followed by a 1pm open luncheon nearby at Hershey's Mill Clubhouse, 401 Chandler Dr in West Chester. Donations can be made in his name to The Brothers of the Christian Schools at www.fscdena.org.