Pat Mcmullen Was Prosecutor, State Legislator

Former state Sen. Pat McMullen, whose political career spanned two decades, died yesterday at his Mount Vernon home after a long bout with cancer. He was 54.

"He died peacefully with friends and family around him," said his wife, Bobbi Krebs-McMullen.

Mr. McMullen began his political career in 1974, when he was elected Skagit County prosecutor. He was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1982.

He was appointed to the state Senate in 1987 after the retirement of Sen. Lowell Peterson. But he quit the Legislature in 1992 after he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He continued his Sedro-Woolley law practice while undergoing chemotherapy.

In 1993, he was under consideration for appointment as U.S. Attorney for Western Washington but withdrew his name.

Born in Seattle, Mr. McMullen spent portions of his childhood in a Seattle housing project, in a cabin on a Whidbey Island chicken farm and in a little house within an Olympic Peninsula Indian reservation.

A Democrat, his first job out of law school was as an assistant state attorney general under then-Attorney General Slade Gorton. U.S. Senator Gorton, a Republican, recommended McMullen for the U.S. attorney position.

In a statement yesterday, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., called Mr. McMullen "one of my dearest friends" and said he served as one of her closest advisers.

He also is survived by four children, Scott of Tacoma, Todd of Guam, Laurie Rebert of Silverdale, Kitsap County, and Traci Friedl of Seattle; five grandchildren; brothers Mike McMullen of Juneau and Dennis McMullen of Spokane, and a sister, Cathy Hiltbruner of Kent.

Services are pending.