Richard F. Mulligan Sr., a 33-year veteran of the municipal bond industry who got his start as a trader at Smith Barney back when there were only eight people on the desk, died on July 7 in Towson, Md., his son said.
The cause was metastatic melanoma. He was 76.
Born in New York in 1933, Mr. Mulligan attended Fordham University and worked at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
In 1957, he was hired as a trader at Smith Barney. Turner Cobden, who was head of underwriting at the firm, described Mr. Mulligan as “a very intelligent guy, very outgoing; a delightful business associate to work with.”
At the time, Cobden said, everything was done by hand and traders used “basis books” — tables of interest rates and maturities — to figure out bond prices.
Cobden would later hire Mr. Mulligan’s son, Richard Jr., who is now a managing director at Morgan Keegan & Co.
In 1961, Mr. Mulligan was recruited to set up the muni department at Robert Garrett & Sons. In 1974, he moved to Alex Brown, which then acquired Robert Garrett & Sons. He retired in 1990.
He is survived by his wife Lori, five sons, a daughter, two step-daughters, and six grandchildren.
