Theresa Mall Mullarkey
Chancellor, C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University
Trustee, Long Island University

Theresa (Tess) Mall Mullarkey is an educator in the truest sense. Though not a teacher by training, she has devoted much of her life to helping others attain a quality education and to improve the local community in which we live. Inspired by her parents, both of whom were educators, Mrs. Mullarkey is a tireless advocate for higher education who devotes countless hours to raising scholarships for deserving students and for the construction and restoration of buildings at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville, N.Y.

For an annual salary of one dollar, Mrs. Mullarkey has served as Chancellor of the C.W. Post Campus since 1993. She devotes much of her time to university fund-raising efforts that will benefit students. She is currently overseeing several building-restoration projects, and a generous donation she made to the campus is helping to restore and upgrade the historic mansion that houses the C.W. Post Admissions Office. Mrs. Mullarkey also serves as a trustee of Long Island University. She chairs the C.W. Post Council of Overseers, which raise funds for campus improvements and student scholarships. She has endowed the Theresa Mullarkey Endowed Scholarship at C.W. Post, the Thomas F.X. Mullarkey Professorship at Fordham University, and the John and Laura K. Mall Scholarship Fund at Wellesley College, where she is a trustee.

A resident of Locust Valley, N.Y., Mrs. Mullarkey has also served on boards for the library, Parents Association, Girls Club and the Grenville Baker Boys and Girls Club. She is also an active member and Governor of The Creek Club in Locust Valley, and the first woman to serve as an officer of The Creek Club. Mrs. Mullarkey is also a long-time friend and supporter of Momma's House, a home for single mothers and their children in Brookville. A parishioner at St. Paul the Apostle R.C. Church, where the Brookville Momma's House is located, Mrs. Mullarkey was instrumental in establishing a secure playground for the young children who live at the home with their mothers. She believes strongly that Momma's House provides young women with the means to complete their educations - and thereby build better futures.

Mrs. Mullarkey was honored in 1997 by C.W. Post's Catholic Parish with the Mary M. Lai Model of Faith Award, which is presented annually to an individual who exemplifies Catholic ideals of devotion, compassion, understanding, healing and commitment, and successfully incorporates these ideals into both professional and personal life. In April 2000 she was an honoree of the C.W. Post College of Management Alumni Chapter Golf Outing. Mrs. Mullarkey is also a trustee of the New York City Police Foundation, which raises funds for bullet resistant vests and community outreach programs. In 2004, she was awarded the prestigious Juliette Low Award of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of Nassau County, and in 2005 she was the recepient of an Honorary Doctorate from Fordham University.

Mrs. Mullarkey learned the importance of an education from her parents, John and Laura Mall. Mr. Mall was a school superintendent in their Colorado community; Mrs. Mall was an English teacher. Particularly inspiring was her father's struggle to earn an education after his mother, father and grandmother died in the flu epidemic of 1918. Mr. Mall was just 8 years old at the time. With no family to take them in, he, his brother and two sisters were forced to live in orphanages.

Despite those hardships, Mr. Mall worked his way through high school and college. Years later, he made sure that his own seven children earned their college degrees as well. And when his wife's sister died, he insisted on taking in her five children - and helping them through college. His third child, Tess, attended Wellesley College on scholarship. During her summers, Tess worked for the Ford Modeling Agency and appeared in Glamour, Mademoiselle and on the cover of Harper's Bazaar. It was during that time that she met her future husband, Thomas F.X. Mullarkey, an attorney who later became a partner in the investment banking firm of Lazard Freres & Co.

After taking time off to raise three sons, Robert, Roger and Thomas Jr., Mrs. Mullarkey worked for Merrill Lynch before launching Mall Associates, a personal financial planning firm. Along with their demanding professional lives, Tom and Tess Mullarkey volunteered as members of the Long Island University Board of Trustees and in other education-related activities. After Mr. Mullarkey died of cancer in 1993, his wife continued those efforts.

"My family has always been deeply committed to providing educational opportunities for young people," says Mrs. Mullarkey. "That's the key to their whole future."