Founder of Florida business mag dies

Harris Mullen, who founded the Florida Trend business magazine 50 years ago, died Wednesday at the age of 84.

Jeff Houck of the Tampa Tribune writes, “In 1946, after graduating from Duke as an ensign in the Naval ROTC, Mullen returned to Tampa to be a reporter at The Tampa Tribune.

“In 1949, he jumped to his father, Charles Mullen’s, magazine, Florida Grower and Rancher, and became publisher a year later. He was recalled into the Navy in 1951 to serve two years during the Korean War aboard a destroyer escort.

“In 1958, Mullen founded Florida Trend magazine and later served three terms as president of the Florida Magazine Association. In 1980, he sold the magazine to the Times Publishing Company, publishers of The St. Petersburg Times.”

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