RVC Loses Native Son, Morgan Murray

Rockville Centre lost a longtime pillar of the community when Morgan Murray, brother of former Mayor Eugene Murray, died on Dec. 3. He was 93. Known as a religious, family man with a great sense of humor, Morgan, along with his 12 brothers and sisters, called Rockville Centre home for nearly nine decades.

The third born of 13 children, Morgan grew up on North Centre Avenue. He attended St. Agnes Elementary School and graduated from Chaminade High School in 1935. Morgan enrolled at the American Institute of Banking and later landed a job as a teller with Bankers Trust. For six years, Morgan studied in the University of Fordham's night school program, where he earned his business degree.

He later married his late wife, Dorothea, who was introduced to him by his sister, Madeline, when the two worked together for IBM. The couple ended up having five children.

When WWII began, Morgan enlisted in the Army and earned the rank of 1st Lieutenant. Eugene said his brother later trained infantry units in combat in Italy, while he was stationed in France. "We used to send letters to each other," Eugene said of his older brother. "Our mom would always let us know where the other one was."

After the war, Eugene said his brother went back to work at Bankers Trust, where he stayed for the next 42 years.  "He was a well-respected man in the banking businesses world in New York," Eugene noted. 

The former mayor added that his brother loved to garden, as well as make home improvements on his Dartmouth Street house. "One year, he was painting the outside, the next year, he was working on the inside," he said.

Morgan loved the beach, Eugene noted, because their mother would always take them to Long Beach during the summer months of their childhood. They always enjoyed visiting their aunt in Southhampton, he said, but since there were so many kids in the family and only one car, you had to earn your way onto the out east trip. 

"If you misbehaved that week, you were out," Eugene joked. The former mayor reflected on the countless football games he played with his brothers out east, which were always followed with a picnic lunch and a trip to the ice cream parlor. "We really loved it out there," he said.

What many people didn't know, Eugene added, was that Morgan was an "exceptional" dancer. "He always entertained us with his fancy dancing," Eugene recalled. "He always liked to put on an act."

Their brother, Paul, was born on Morgan's birthday, and Eugene said he never let Paul live that down. "Up until he died, he always blamed Paul that he missed the Yankee game on his birthday," he said.

With nine boys in the family, Eugene said there was always a dinner table debate on who was the best baseball team in New York. That is one tradition in the Murray family, however, that hasn't changed: eating dinner together. "My brothers were always busy with their jobs, but we always ate dinner together every night," he said. "It was always important to be together."