Arts Patron Maurice Mulville Dies

Maurice Mulville, a retired surgeon and prominent Orange County arts patron, died Tuesday at St. Jude Medical Center, where he had worked for 36 years.

Mulville died of congestive heart failure, according to a family friend. He was 83.

Mulville, a general surgeon, joined St. Jude in Fullerton in 1957 and retired in 1993. He was then designated as an honorary staff member “recognized for outstanding reputation, noteworthy contributions to the health and medical sciences and longstanding service to the hospital,” a hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Mulville’s wife, Marcy, is credited as the driving force behind the 1978 founding of the Pacific Symphony, and together the couple made generous, multiple donations to the orchestra, the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Cal State Fullerton’s music department and many other Orange County arts institutions.

“Without Marcy there would be no Pacific Symphony,” said Lorraine Lippold, a family friend, “She and Maurice have done so much for the community.”

“He was a very good and caring doctor,” said Ingrid Shutkin, another friend. “His patients all liked him because he was a very caring man.”

Mulville is survived by his wife and two daughters.

A public rosary and Mass for Mulville will be said at 7:30 p.m. Friday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 1400 W. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton. A burial service will be Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery, 7845 E. Santiago Canyon Road, Orange.

The family requests that donations be made in Mulville’s name to the St. Jude Memorial Foundation and the Pacific Symphony.