In Memory of Jerry Murphy

Jerry Murphy, BHEF’s executive director from 2000 to 2004, died unexpectedly on December 4, 2008. At the time of his death, he was the director of public affairs and a professor of political science at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. He worked with students to develop their vision and capabilities as change agents, domestically and globally, and he was passionate about students’ preparedness for work and life after college. As director of public affairs at Wheaton, he collaborated with professional associations and other colleges to create meaningful partnerships between higher education and leading U.S. and global corporations.

During his tenure as BHEF’s executive director, the organization issued several major reports and initiated its mathematics and science initiative, the precursor to the current Securing America’s Leadership in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Initiative. Major reports issued under Jerry’s leadership include Building a Nation of Learners, which addressed transforming learning to ensure that workers possess the skills required to succeed in today’s high performing workplaces, and Working Together, Creating Knowledge: The University-Industry Research Collaboration Initiative (RCI), which focused on fostering collaborative cross-sector partnerships in scientific research in order to advance innovation. The RCI generated a new paradigm for university-industry cooperation, which has continued to be nourished through the work of the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable and University-Industry-Demonstration Partnership at the National Academies.

In addition to his service at BHEF and Wheaton College, Jerry was the former vice president of urban development and vice president of government affairs at the Siemens Corporation. He was also president of J. L. Murphy & Associates, a senior public policy consultant for the Energy Research Group, manager of government affairs at the Boston Edison Company, and president of Boston Harbor Associates. He served as executive director of Massachusetts Governor Francis Sargent’s task force on metropolitan development. He was an officer of the John Quincy Adams Society, a member the Alumni Council of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, and a member of the Policy Roundtable of the Democratic Leadership Council.

BHEF benefited from Jerry’s insight and leadership, as did many other institutions and an uncountable number of students he taught during his career. He will be missed.