Robert E. Mulcahy, the former president and CEO of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority who left that post in 1998 to to run the Rutgers athletics program for ten years, and a member of the Rutgers Hall of Fame, has died.

He was 85.

Mr. Mulcahy served as president and CEO of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (the Meadowlands) for 19 years.

“New Jersey has lost a champion,” said former Governor (and 27th District state Senator) Richard J. Codey. “Bob recently called me and expressed how much he loved and respected me, and I let him know I felt the same about him. He is best known for his work as the head of the NJ Sports and Exposition Authority and as Athletic Director at Rutgers University. He has left a lasting mark on our state and on RU sports. I’m sure he is re-organizing things in Heaven already.”

On the occasion of Mr. Mulcahy receiving the 2010 National Football Foundation’s 2010 John L. Toner Award, the NFF had this to say:

“A visionary in New Jersey athletics, Mulcahy has spent his life working towards the betterment of sports in his home state, steering the Rutgers football program toward national prominence during his time in Piscataway.

“Coming off a winless season the year before his arrival as athletics director in 1998, he worked fast to improve conditions for Rutgers football. In 2001, he hired Greg Schiano, who in four short years would lead the Scarlet Knights to their first postseason appearance in nearly 30 years. Mulcahy, a Villanova graduate, also obtained funding from the state legislature for a massive renovation of the university’s athletic facilities, raised the athletics department’s endowment and secured increased television coverage for the football program.

“Mulcahy is also credited with positively affecting student-athlete welfare, putting an emphasis on academics and community service. He initiated significant upgrades in athlete tutoring and supervision programs, boosting Rutgers to one of the top academic institutions in the Big East. He also encouraged participation in area toy drives, blood drives, reading programs and hospital visits. And, in 2006, Scarlet Knights’ team captain Brian Leonard took home the NFF’s William V. Campbell Trophy as the top senior football scholar-athlete in the country for his combined academic, athletic and community involvement.”

From NJ.com in 2014:

When Bob Mulcahy was hired as Rutgers‘ athletic director in 1998, he set out to revamp the athletic department.

At the time, Rutgers was “at the bottom of Division 1,” Mulcahy said during an interview with NJ.com. Mulcahy didn’t know Rutgers would someday be destined for the Big Ten, but he knew he needed to build the athletic department to put it in the best possible position for success.

While Mulcahy’s tenure came to an unceremonious end in 2008 amid criticism that he lacked proper oversight of the athletic department, the Millburn native will watch with pride when Rutgers officially becomes a member of the Big Ten on Tuesday.

“It’s a great sense of pride,” said Mulcahy at the time. “When I went there my mission was to fix the program, understanding that it had to be led by football. We were at the bottom of Division 1 when I went there. We did all the things that we had to do to create a program that got us to where we are, including competitively, academically and facility-wise. The work was hard. We had to raise the money.”