Mulhern Gas Company Celebrates 5th Generation Family Propane Business

HUDSON, NY – Mulhern Gas Company is pleased to announce the addition of Richard “Rick” Cummings, IV, to their staff based in Hudson, New York. In joining the company, Cummings represents the fifth generation of the Cumming’s family at Mulhern Gas. Mr. Cummings is a 2011 graduate of Christian Brothers Academy in Albany, NY, and a 2015 graduate of Colgate University in Hamilton, NY, where he received an honors degree in Geology. His work at Colgate has subsequently been published by the Geological Society of America.

Mulhern Gas Company is a full-service propane provider service with customers in Columbia, Greene, Dutchess, and Rensselear Counties. Mulheron was founded in 1918 by Thomas J. Mulhern as a coal provider. The company later moved into fuel oil distribution in the 1950’s through the 1970’s. In 1978, Mulhern sold its fuel oil assets to concentrate exclusively on propane sales and service. The firm will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2018.

According to the Family Business Review, about 30 percent of family businesses continue into the second generation, with 12 percent staying viable for a third generation, and only three percent surviving to a fourth generation and beyond.

“As you can imagine, we are thrilled to have Rick on board at Mulhern Gas. He’s grown up in the propane business and he’ll be here to bring Mulhern Gas well into our next one hundred years,” said Richard Cummings, Jr., president of Mulhern Gas and Rick’s grandfather.

“We are very proud that Rick has chosen to be the fifth generation to join the family business,” said Cummings, Jr. Family businesses are the backbone of our economy and, according to Forbes Magazine, they generate more than 50% of the U.S. Gross National Product (GNP). I think our multi-generational family operation is a perfect fit with our customer-centered approach to the propane business,” Cummings, Jr. said.