Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Eugene J. Murray, a lifelong Rockville Centre resident who served as mayor of the village from 1987 to 2007, died on Tuesday at his home. He was 93.
After serving on the village’s board of trustees for three years, Murray, the father of current mayor Francis X. Murray, was first elected to lead the village in 1987, and ran unopposed for re-election in 1991, 1995, 1999 and 2003. He was also an active member of the Rockville Centre Fire Department for 72 years, serving as a chief from 1977 to 1983, and was president of the New York Conference of Mayors and the Nassau County Village Officials Association.
During his first year as mayor, Murray established the Rockville Centre Community Fund, which has supported residents in need, including seniors, single parents and victims of disasters. Over the past three decades, the fund has raised more than $1.6 million.
A man of great faith, “He was, is and will always be the father of this village,” Francis said of his father, “and that was because of his dedication, his commitment and his passion as he guided Rockville Centre through good times and bad for 20 years.”
Murray was in the Army in 1944 during World War II, at age 19. He fought in Germany as part of the U.S. Third Army, led by Gen. George Patton, according to his son, Tom. When he returned to Rockville Centre, he started his own business, Murray Floor Waxing Service, which he operated for four decades. Murray was named the recipient of the Rockville Centre Chamber of Commerce’s first Businessman of the Year award.
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