Trend Founder Harris Mullen Passes On

| 12/12/2008

Harris Mullen, a former reporter for the Tampa Tribune who left the newspaper to run his family’s printing and publishing business, founded Florida Trend in 1958 after he saw a need for a magazine covering statewide business. He died Wednesday evening at the age of 84. He suffered many years with Parkinson's disease.

Mullen ran Florida Trend for 22 years before selling the magazine to the St. Petersburg Times in 1980.

In the first issue, he wrote, “There was Florida industry on the move. We had not caused it; we had only stopped it for a moment and put it on paper."

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Katharine Hoag, daughters Julie Lux, Sandy Moore, Nancy Griscom, son Harris Hopkins Mullen Jr., two great grandchildren and brother Charles Gordon Mullen Jr.

"Harris Mullen was one of my heroes," said University of South Florida historian Gary Mormino to the Tampa Tribune. He recalled how Mullen came to the rescue in 1972 by purchasing the abandoned V.M. Ybor factory and revamping it into Tampa's Ybor Square. "It was a time when few investors were rushing into Ybor City," Mormino said. "For over a decade, Ybor Square and the Columbia Restaurant were the pillars holding Ybor City together."

A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 2:30 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 509 E. Twiggs St., Tampa, Florida. In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations may be made in his memory to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Building Fund, 509 E. Twiggs St., Tampa, Florida 33602 or Tampa & Ybor City Street Railway Society for the Harris H. Mullen Museum, P. O. Box 644, Lutz, Florida 33548 or the charity of your choice.

More about Harris Mullen:

The Florida Icon

'70s Gas Crisis Sounds a Lot Like Today

Mullen Was Known for Key Role in Ybor [Tampa Tribune]