Richard R. McNulty

Richard Robert McNulty, Rear admiral United States Navy, Vice admiral USMS, was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts on April 20, 1899 and died in Boston, Massachusetts on November 1, 1980. The United States Merchant Marine Academy community considers Vice Admiral McNulty, a World War II veteran, who had long advocated for the Academy's creation, its "Father". The Academy's McNulty Campus is named for the Vice Admiral. He served as the Academy's 3rd superintendent. Vice Admiral McNulty was, too, a professor emeritus at Georgetown University.

McNulty served as a Merchant marine officer from 1917-1920. Beginning as a nautical specialist, he served with the U.S. Dept. of Navy from 1920-1937. McNulty was supervisor of the U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet Corps of the United States Maritime Commission from 1938-1948. He was on active duty in the U.S. Navy during World War II from 1942 until 1946, attaining the rank of Commodore. In 1946, McNulty was appointed the 3rd superintendent of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, the latest of the five United States Service academies and an institution for which McNulty had advocated since the late 1920s. He served as the Academy's superintendent until his retirement from the military in 1948. McNulty was a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Engineers.

Richard Robert McNulty graduated from the Massachusetts Nautical School (1919). He received a B.S. from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University (1922).

• Order of Naval Merit (Cuba) (1939)
• Legion of Merit (1946)

• Georgetown University’s McNulty Foreign Service Scholarship (established 1945) is named for Vice Admiral McNulty.
• The Vice Admiral Richard R. McNulty Award is among the awards bestowed annually upon members of the USMMA graduating class.