William Mulvihill


William Patrick Mulvihill was an American author of several novels, most notable of which is the New York Times bestseller The Sands of Kalahari, which was later adapted into the movie Sands of the Kalahari by Paramount during 1965.

Early life

Mulvihill was born June 25, 1923 in Sag Harbor, New York the youngest child and son of Lieutenant Commander Daniel F. Mulvihill and Anna McDonough. As a child Mulvihill was intensely interested in the outdoors.

Military career

While a student at Cornell University he was a member of the Army Enlisted Reserve. He completed boot camp at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and then infantry training at Ft. Benning, Georgia. In 1942 he was sent to the University of New Hampshire for the Army Specialized Training Program, upon completion of which he would have been commissioned as a second lieutenant in the OSS. However, before he could finish ASTP, Mulvihill was sent to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to receive field artillery training.
He was then sent to the south of England for approximately a month, arriving in Europe after the D-Day invasion. Because of his command of the German language and additional Army language training, he served as a forward observer with both the 78th Division and the 2nd Ranger Battalion during campaigns in the Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe, and experienced combat at the Battle of the Bulge, attaining the rank of corporal and squad leader. Upon return to the United States, he completed his studies at Cornell, earning a bachelor's degree in German Literature.

Education

Mulvihill attended the one-room schoohouse of St. Andrew's Catholic School and Pierson High School. He graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor's degree in German Literature, and a master's degree in Teaching from Columbia University. Afterwards he continued with post-masters studies at C W Post University, where he later also taught creative writing.

Personal life

He married Mary Marceau an on June 18, 1946 in Winchester, Massachusetts and remained married for over 58 years. They had two daughters: Nancy Mulvihill and MaryAnn Mulvihill-Decker. and two sons-in-law: Charles Tongren and Daniel Mulvihill-Decker.
Mulvihill had a passion for Africa and had visited the continent three times during the 1960s and 1970s. In adulthood, he had amassed a large collection of books concerning Africa which several African scholars from local colleges and universities told him was “...the largest private library on Africa in New York." "It was this incredible wall of books — he really was a scholar and expert on African history and natural history.” He was also president of the Glen Cove Library and served on the city's tree commission.

Teaching career

Mulvihill became chairman of the history department at Glen Cove High School where he had taught history for 32 years with an emphasis on African history. As an adjunct professor, Mulvihill also taught creative writing at Nassau Community and CW Post colleges. He served as both a member and once president of the Board of Directors of the Glen Cove Library. He was a contributing editor to the Long Island Forum as well as a regular contributor to The Sag Harbor Express.

Businesses

Mulvihill owned Brickiln Press, a book publisher which deals in rare books with an emphasis on Africana and which published his book South Fork Place Names: Some Informational Long Island History.

Mulvihill Preserve

The Anna and Daniel Mulvihill Preserve, purchased by the Town of Southampton on March 26, 2003 was dedicated on June 15 of 2001 at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The preserve covers 75 acres and was established by his sister Dolores and him in memory of their parents. This environmentally critical land helps to form an assemblage of land necessary for animals and plants to move and spread over a territory as opposed to being contained and blocked by landowners, roads and buildings. Long Island has been trying to buy land to create with natural pathways through the island, especially on the East End. This land was originally purchased by his parents in 1917 when they purchased the family homestead. Mulvihill also established the name of one of the many ponds on the land as Mulvihill Pond, which is now part of the official record as well as hiking and GIS maps.
However, Mulvihill himself began buying land after he returned from the war, and after his death in 2004, the Town of Southampton purchased his land, which included a 14-plus acre environmentally critical bog, in the area known as Great Swamp. The bog itself is also referred to as Great Swamp. He purchased the bog from his sister Dolores in an exchange for other more marketable land he owned in order to protect it from developers at a time when strict environmental policies were not yet in effect. This land is contiguous to the Anna and Daniel Mulvihill Preserve and was named the William Mulvihill Preserve in 2006, bringing the total land preserved at that time to just over 100 acres.
Mulvihill, an admitted curmudgeon and "anti-growth fanatic" as well as known for being an ardent environmentalist, wanted to see land remain as undeveloped as possible. "I don't like to see farm land or forest land destroyed," Mulvihill said. "I'm in anguish every time I see a new house being built.” Mulvihill hoped that the Anna and Daniel Mulvihill Preserve would help save the local environment before it became destroyed like the area around his home. "People come out to the East End for its bucolic aspects and pristine water," Mulvihill said. "If we continue to overdevelop it's going to wind up like Nassau County and there's no point being active down there because it's all gone.”

Writing career

Mulvihill was the author of a dozen novels, several which have been adapted or have been optioned to be adapted into feature movies. He is perhaps most well known for his novel The Sands Of Kalahari, as well as hundreds of essays and many "letters to the editor" of popular publications. He also contributed to the Our Town column of the newspaper Sag Harbor Express.
His novel The Mantrackers was later reworked and self-published as Serengeti during 1995 and optioned for a movie during 2012.
His wife regularly typed his notes and encouraged him to continue writing. He continued to write nearly every day even at age 81. His daughter has said about his writing habits, "he wrote longhand, he didn’t write on the computer. He’d edit and edit and do different versions. He’d let the story happen and wouldn’t know exactly where it was going. He’d just start writing.”

Film career

Mulvihill's novel The Sands of Kalahari was adapted into a screenplay for the movie Sands of the Kalahari by Cy Endfield for Paramount in 1965. His novel The Mantrackers was optioned with plans to film the movie on location in South Africa.

Awards

His 1960 novel, The Sands Of Kalahari, was a New York Times Bestseller and the first novel to win the Putnam Literary Award.

Death

On September 17, 2004 William Mulvihill died from pancreatic cancer in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York, at age 81.

Novels