William Thomas Mullineaux Jr., 89, administrator of groups benefiting the disabled

William Thomas Mullineaux Jr., 89, of Warrington, an administrator for organizations benefiting children with disabilities, died Sunday, March 24, of renal failure at his home.

During the last five weeks of his life, Mr. Mullineaux was in hospice care. He had constant visits from his many friends the entire time, his son Mark said. They came from all over the country to see him.

“He had five weeks when his whole gang got together with him,” his son said. “He loved it. He was very social. He was the kind of guy who’d become friends with the person behind the counter at Wawa who got his coffee.”

Born in Philadelphia to Alma Weaver and William Thomas Mullineaux Sr., he grew up in Frankford. After graduating from Frankford High School, he served in the Navy at the end of the Korean War as an air traffic controller. Once honorably discharged, he attended Pennsylvania State University but transferred to Temple University to get bachelor’s and master’s degrees in educational psychology.

Mr. Mullineaux began his career as an elementary school teacher in Philadelphia, but in 1961 when his daughter Christine was born with physical and intellectual disabilities, he gravitated toward work with institutes and nonprofits designed to help disabled children and their families.

He was reading director at the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential in Wyndmoor and then clinical director for eight years at the New York Center for Child Development.

The New York group’s aim is to treat young children with developmental delays and emerging social-emotional issues so that each can develop to his or her full potential. While there, Mr. Mullineaux appeared on a radio talk show in New York.

His son Mark said parents often called in to thank Mr. Mullineaux for help he had given them and their children with issues such as learning disabilities.

In time, Mr. Mullineaux wanted a change, so from 1981 to 1989 he owned and operated a photography business. “He photographed sports teams and dance groups,” his son said.

Starting in 1989, Mr. Mullineaux was owner-operator of Learning Experience Preschool in Society Hill. In 1999, he sold the business and retired.

In retirement, he enjoyed reading, learning, movies, Ocean City, N.J., travel, visiting Disney World, dining out, and spending time with family and friends.

Mr. Mullineaux married Justine Claire Smith Mullineaux in 1958. They raised four children in Hatboro. The couple divorced in 1991. She died in 2015.

In 1994, he married Susanne Sutton Mullineaux. In addition to his wife and son, he is survived by children Dave Mullineaux and Diane Aldrete; stepchildren Shawn Ziemba Williams and Frank Ziemba; four grandchildren; two step-grandchildren; and a great-grandchild. Daughter Christine Mullineaux died in 2014 at age 53.

A visitation starting at 10 a.m. Friday, April 5, will be followed by an 11 a.m. memorial service at the Varcoe-Thomas Funeral Home, 344 N. Main St., Doylestown. Mr. Mullineaux chose cremation. Plans for his ashes are private.

Donations may be made to the Bucks County SPCA, P.O. Box 277, Lahaska, Pa. 18931 or via www.bcspca.org.