Thomas Francis McNulty (1906 – February 1, 1995) was an American radio broadcasting executive, author, and politician. He was the owner of Belvedere Broadcasting Corporation from the 1950s to 1987 and served as president in the 1960s. He served as a member of the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly, legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House ...

, representing the 3rd District of Baltimore, from 1942 to 1946.

Early life

McNulty was born in East Baltimore in 1906. He attended

parochial schools A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The w ...

and was a 1926 graduate at the

Baltimore City College Baltimore City College, known colloquially as City, City College, and B.C.C., is a college preparatory school with a classical liberal arts focus and selective admissions criteria located in Baltimore, Maryland. Opened in October 1839, B.C.C ...

. He also attended the

Peabody Conservatory of Music The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a private music and dance conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1857, it became affiliated with Johns Hopkins in 1977. History Philanthropist and m ...

Career

After working as a typesetter, newspaper reporter and bank runner, he became an insurance broker in the late 1920s. In 1953, he founded Charg-It of Baltimore, the first non-store credit card available to Baltimore residents and served as chairman of the board until 1957. In the mid-1950s, he bought Belvedere Broadcasting Corp., the owner of WWIN Radio, selling it in 1987 when he retired. He was president of the Belvedere Broadcasting Company (

WWIN-FM WWIN-FM (95.9 FM) is an urban adult contemporary radio station in the Baltimore metro owned by Urban One. It is known as "Magic 95.9", playing a variety of urban adult contemporary music from the 1960s to present. Its transmitter is located a ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

) in the 1960s. In 1949, the McNultys and parents of eight other intellectually disabled children founded the Maryland Society for Mentally Retarded Children, today known as The Arc Baltimore. In the 1950s, the McNultys helped establish the St. Francis School for Special Education, which was previously located on Maryland Avenue in Baltimore. Their experiences led the McNultys to write a booklet titled "Happily Raising a Retarded Child" to help parents in similar circumstances. He was a member of numerous organizations, including the Hibernian Society, the

Friendly Sons of St. Patrick The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick/Friends Sons and Daughters of St. Patrick, officially The Society of The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick for the Relief of Emigrants from Ireland, is an American charitable and social organization for Irish Americans ...

, the

Baltimore Country Club Baltimore Country Club is a private club in Baltimore, Maryland, with two campuses, one in the city's Roland Park neighborhood and the other in the north suburb of Lutherville. It is one of only twelve clubs nationwide to operate two campuses. T ...

and Boumi Temple. McNulty was a Democratic member of the

representing its Baltimore City 3rd District from 1942 to 1946.

Death

The McNultys owned a winter home in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...

. McNulty died from cancer at the Blakehurst Life Care Community (now known as Blakehurst Senior Living) in Towson, Maryland, on February 1, 1995.

References

1906 births 1995 deaths Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates 20th-century members of the Maryland General Assembly {{Maryland-politician-stub