Robert H Mullaney

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Robert H. Mullaney, 90, of Eltingville, a retired Con Edison employee, World War II and Korean War veteran who was proud of his Irish ancestry, died Saturday in Eger Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, Egbertville, where he had been a patient since mid-June.

The lifelong Staten Islander grew up in Oakwood and settled in Eltingville 50 years ago.

He graduated from New Dorp High School, where he played baseball.

Mr. Mullaney served in the U.S. Navy during both World War II and the Korean War, stationed primarily aboard an aircraft carrier and also participating in troop transport. He was a member of the Blazing Star Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Travis, and the Cpl. Allan F. Kivlehan Chapter, Korean War Veterans.

In his younger years he was fond of cars and working on them. He was an enthusiastic stamp collector and loved to read, especially about veterans' and Navy issues.

Mr. Mullaney was kind and loving, his family said. Very generous, he was always giving everyone something. And he was very proud of his Irish ancestry.

He was a longtime parishioner of St. Clare's R.C. Church, Great Kills.

Mr. Mullaney's wife of 25 years, the former Helen White, died in 2009. He also was preceded in death by his stepsons, Thomas and Lawrence White, and his grandson, Jeffrey White, who died in 2001.

Surviving are his stepson, John White; three grandchildren, and five great-granddaughters.

The funeral will be Tuesday from the Casey McCallum Rice South Shore Funeral Home, Great Kills, with a Mass at 11 a.m. in St. Clare's Church. Burial will follow in the Catholic veterans' section of Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.