Reg Murphy, a famend journalist whose newsgathering profession included stints as an editor and high govt at newspapers in Atlanta, San Francisco and Baltimore — and who discovered himself the topic of nationwide headlines when he survived a politically motivated kidnapping — has died at age 90.
Murphy, who lived on St. Simons Island, Georgia, died on Nov 9. John Reginald “Reg” Murphy was a Georgia native who early in his profession coated state politics for the Macon Telegraph. He then labored as a reporter and editor at The Atlanta Structure amid the civil rights motion. Murphy turned editor and writer of the San Francisco Examiner in 1975, then went on to function writer on the Baltimore Solar.
As an editor, Murphy was inspiring, stated Artwork Harris, a reporter at The Structure who later adopted Murphy to San Francisco, The Atlanta Journal-Structure reported. “That was his magic. He impressed folks by constructing them up. He was a gentleman and a delicate persuader. I by no means heard him increase his voice. Not everybody preferred his choices, however he didn’t let that dissuade him from making them.”
Murphy later served in senior management roles on the Nationwide Geographic Society, the place he helped introduce new media applied sciences increasing the worldwide attain and influence of its print and video platforms.
His reporting profession took him throughout the globe, together with to Russia, China, Japan and the Center East, Mercer College famous in a 2023 article about Murphy, who attended lessons there within the Fifties. Within the U.S., Murphy harassed journalism’s significance for the well being of the nation and communities.
“Journalism is, in my thoughts, sacred,” he stated in an interview final yr for Mercer College. “It’s a sacred belief to inform the reality and to attempt to give folks sufficient freedom to have the ability to discover the reality after which to pursue it.” Throughout his time as editorial web page editor at The Atlanta Structure, Murphy turned the main focus of a gripping story in 1974, when he was kidnapped and held for a $700,000 ransom.
The kidnapper claimed to be a part of a militia group desirous to cease “the mendacity of leftist newspapers.” Two days later, Murphy was launched in a motel car parking zone after the ransom was paid. Inside hours of his launch, his abductor was arrested at his dwelling and the cash was recovered. The person was later convicted and sentenced to 40 years in jail however finally served 9.
Murphy continued his lengthy and profitable profession in journalism. Years later, Murphy gave a firsthand account of that harrowing expertise in Golf Digest. It started when a person claiming he wanted assist donating 300,000 gallons of heating oil persuaded Murphy to trip with him to his lawyer’s workplace to signal papers. Murphy recounted what occurred as soon as he turned suspicious.
“He was steering together with his proper hand, and together with his left he leaned a handgun throughout his forearm, seemed over, and stated, Mr. Murphy, you’ve been kidnapped,’ Murphy wrote. ”He tossed a roll of white adhesive tape onto my lap and advised me to cowl my eyes. With the gun pointing at me, I did as I used to be advised and utilized three strips from temple to temple.”
A couple of minutes later, the automobile stopped and the kidnapper used rope to tie his wrists behind his again after which his ankles, Murphy wrote. Nonetheless blindfolded, Murphy was advised to get within the trunk.
“After I was within the trunk, he tied my wrists to my ankles behind me in order that my physique fashioned a reverse-C,” he wrote. “This was very uncomfortable for my again. The trunk was shallow — if I moved my head up even a couple of inches it hit the roof. I used to be respiratory quick, however I used to be additionally attempting to regulate my breath, attempting to not panic.” They drove for hours till he was led right into a constructing, Murphy recounted.
Earlier than being shoved between a mattress and the wall, he was allowed to talk on the cellphone to a different editor at The Structure, informing him he’d been kidnapped. It turned nationwide information, coming quickly after Patty Hearst, the granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped by a far-left militant group.
Murphy stated he misplaced 10 kilos (4.5 kilograms) in the course of the ordeal and suffered claustrophobia from the hours spent within the trunk. Throughout his captivity, he replayed in his thoughts rounds of golf he had shot. Two months later, Murphy stated he was on a golf course at a charity occasion. On nearly each gap spectators from the gallery requested for his autograph or to pose for a photograph, he recalled. His ardour for golf offered a therapeutic launch from the kidnapping, his obituary stated.
Murphy turned an lively volunteer with the game’s governing physique, the US Golf Affiliation, and served as its president in 1994 and 1995.
“Like so many USGA presidents earlier than him, and since, Reg gave his time and experience to assist go away the sport of golf even higher,” stated USGA CEO Mike Whan. “The USGA, and the individuals who play and love the sport of golf, are higher off due to Reg’s dedication, ardour and management.”
Murphy was the son of Mae and John Lee Murphy, a schoolteacher and a retailer proprietor. He remained a powerful supporter of Mercer, describing the varsity as “a spot the place I realized one thing in regards to the who, what, the place, why and the way of journalism.”
He served 5 phrases on the Mercer Board of Trustees, his obituary stated. Mercer honored his achievements by renaming its Heart for Collaborative Journalism because the Reg Murphy Heart for Collaborative Journalism.
