MURPHY, Terrence J(ohn) 1920-2004

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born December 21, 1920, in Watkins, MN; died of cancer, February 25, 2004, in St. Paul, MN. Priest, administrator, and author. Murphy was most remembered as the longtime president of the University of St. Thomas. Completing undergraduate work at St. Paul Seminary in 1946, he was ordained that year and served as a parish priest in Minnesota for the next three years. From 1949 to 1954, he was a chaplain for the U.S. Air Force, and remained a chaplain for the Air Force Reserve for a total of nineteen years, becoming chief of chaplains for the Minnesota Air National Guard in 1975 and eventually being promoted to brigadier general. Joining the College of St. Thomas economics and political science faculty in 1954, he worked on his master's degree at the University of Minnesota, which he completed in 1956, followed by a doctorate from Georgetown University in 1959. After serving as dean of students in 1961 and executive vice president for the next four years, Murphy reluctantly took the reins of the presidency at St. Thomas in 1966. The institution at the time was an all-men's Catholic university with a student body of about 2,200 and limited financial resources. Murphy, however, would change all that. During his time in office, he quadrupled enrollment, began accepting women students in 1977, increased the annual budget from less than four million dollars a year to over eighty million dollars, and dramatically expanded the number of graduate degree programs. By the time he retired in 1991, Murphy had successfully transformed St. Thomas from a tiny college into a highly respected university. He was honored for his contributions in 2000 when one of the campus buildings was named Terrence Murphy Hall. Murphy wrote about his experiences at the university in his A Catholic University: Vision and Opportunities (2001).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), February 26, 2004, p. A1; February 27, 2004, p. B6.

ONLINE

University of St. Thomas,http://www.stthomas.edu/ (February 25, 2004).