JOSEPH COLLIGAN Private Investigator Extraordinary

Every once in a while I have the opportunity to meet someone extraordinary and become friends with them. Joseph Culligan from the Miami area is one such person! Joe passed away in 2012 but his career as an exceptional private investigator now lives on with a new exhibit inside the Spy Exchange's PI Museum. Culligan was a modern day Miami based private investigator internationally known as a man who could find anyone anywhere and check out anyone easily and quickly. He was an actor on Miami Vice during it's hay-hay. Miami Vice was an NBC TV show than ran from 1984 to 1990. When the show ended, Joseph Culligan liked the Miami area and liked investigative and detective work so instead of moving to Hollywood to wait for his next acting role, he became a professional private investigator and quickly rose right to the top of the pack. Joe wrote books. Three of them in fact. His book You Can Find Anybody was a huge hit and helped you do exactly what the title stated. When In Doubt Check Him out was another book that hit huge sales numbers. Being an actor, Joe often appeared and was a huge hit on TV talk shows, especially the Maury Povich Show where he was a regular guest talking about his private investigative career and his books. In 1999 The National Association Of Investigative Specialists was honored to have him as a featured speaker at the NAIS yearly conference. Culligan was a huge hit to hundreds of investigators and taught them the ends and outs of public records searching ad locating the missing. He was awarded speaker of the year for 1999. You can still read the article and announcement on that by Click Here. In 1998 PI Magazine published an article on the Top Ten Private Investigators in America. Joseph Culligan was named in that article in the top ten.

After Culligan's sudden and unexpected death in 2012 from a stroke, his wife Elizabeth donated some material from his office to the Spy And Private Eye Museum so we could do this exhibit on him. I was astounded to open an envelop that was kept in his private investigative office which she gave me which was addressed to him from the Governor of Arkansas who was Bill Clinton at the time. Here is a copy of that letter.

Letter To Joseph Culligan from then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton

A Black And White Photo Of Joseph J. Colligan usedas an actor's casting photo and often
used as a photo in the dozens of articles written about him in newspapers and magazines.

Joseph Culligan on the cover of a 1998 issue of Repossessor Magazine.

Here is his Obituary as it appeared in the Miami Herald

COLLIGAN, JOSEPH, age 60, passed away suddenly on June 4, 2012 in Miami Beach FL. He was the beloved husband of Elizabeth Rios Colligan, with whom he shared 10 years of marriage. Born in White Plains, NY, he was the son of Felice Colucci Colligan of Honey Brook, PA and the late Cornelius Colligan. He was a 1969 graduate of Plainedge High School in North Massapequa, N.Y. A federal employee of 33 years, he was also a private investigator and owned his own agency. Under the professional name of Joseph Colligan, he had worked on many famous media cases such as the O. J. Simpson case and the Kennedy rape case, as well as having articles in the National Enquirer and being featured speaker at P. I. national conventions. He appeared on radio call-in shows nationwide and spoke at law school classes on the importance of using a private investigator in a law firm. He was also a member of the Private Investigator Hall of Fame. He was the author of four books: When In Doubt-Check Him Out, You Too Can Find Anybody, Manhunt:The Book, and How to Become a P. I. in All 50 States. He had one of the most in depth political investigative web sites - WEBOFDECEPTION.COM. He was known as Reunion P .I. because over the years he had reunited thousands of families both on national TV and as private clients. He had the P. I. license and the LOOK. Joseph was a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) member and appeared in many Miami Vice episodes as well as commercials and film work. Joseph was proud that this film casting photo was taken by famous Playboy photographer Bunny Yaeger. He loved travelling, the beach and Doo Wop music. He was a tikiphile and collected vintage vinyl Polynesian albums. He also loved and was a friend to all squirrels. In addition to his wife and mother, Joseph is survived by his sister, Mary E. Epstein of Amherst, NH; by his brothers, Michael A. Colligan and John Puma, both of Coatesville, PA, and by many nieces and nephews. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on Sat. 06/09, at St. Joseph Church, 338 Manor Ave., Downingtown, PA. Prior to the Mass, a visitation for family and friends will be held from 9:00 - 10:30 a.m. at the James J. Terry Funeral Home, 736 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown. Interment will be in Fairview Cemetery, Coatesville. View this Guest Book at www. MiamiHerald.com/obituaries.

Come on down and see his Display today inside The Spy And Private-Eye Museum.

From The Ralph D. Thomas PI Vintage Collection
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