The flag over Meadville’s City Building was lowered to half mast Monday and will remain in that position until Sept. 4 — marking one day for each year of former Chief of Police Robert J. Mullen’s service to the department.

Mullen died Friday, Aug. 8, in Florida. His wife, Beverly, preceded him in death by approximately two weeks.

“He was a happy-go-lucky, comical type of guy who could be stern when he had to be,” recalled the department’s current chief, Dave Stefanucci, who joined the force during Mullen’s days as a lieutenant.

The Meadville native, a graduate of Meadville Area Senior High School and Pennsylvania State Police Academy at Hershey, served as chief of the department from July 14, 1986, until his retirement at the end of January 1991.

Mullen joined the department as a patrolman on April 9, 1962. In September 1968, he was promoted to patrolman specialist and made sergeant in January 1971. From 1969 to 1976, he operated the department’s school safety program. In November 1976, he was promoted to detective sergeant; in August 1978, he became a lieutenant, a position he held until being named chief.

Mullen became chief following the retirement of Chief Robert Fischer and was succeeded in that position by Chief Harold (Hal) Tubbs Jr. “Any time somebody you’ve worked with that many years dies, it kind of affects you,” Tubbs said Wednesday. “We were close.”

Arrangements for a local memorial service are incomplete.