Richard B. Murphy Jr.

Richard (Dick) Bernard Murphy, Jr., 80, of Orleans, MA passed away peacefully at his home with his family by his side on December 20, 2022 after a valiant and courageous seven-month battle with cancer. Up until the very end, he remained brave, upbeat, concerned more for others than himself, and grateful for all of life’s blessings. His memory will be forever a source of inspiration and strength for his family and all who knew and loved him. Dick was born on August 3, 1942 in Waterbury, CT, the son of the late Richard B. and Mary (Monagan) Murphy. Dick, a former altar boy at the Immaculate Conception Church, attended St. Mary’s School and McTernan School for Boys in Waterbury, graduated in 1960 from the Canterbury Preparatory School in New Milford, CT, and received a business degree from Fairfield University in 1965.

Dick worked for many years at Murphy Outdoor Advertising Co. in Waterbury CT, a family business which he purchased in the early 70’s. During his years with Murphy Advertising, he acquired outdoor advertising properties in Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Buffalo, NY. His association with the community of Buffalo led him to become a lifelong, and ever hopeful, Buffalo Bills fan. He was an active member of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America where he served as treasurer, the youngest officer at the time to serve on the board of the OAAA. After selling Murphy Outdoor Advertising to Gannett in 1982, Dick pursued a variety of business ventures in real estate development. In 1992, he bought the Blue Dolphin Inn and Black Skillet restaurant in N. Eastham, MA on Cape Cod which he ran for 20 years until his retirement in 2012. He was a parishioner of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Orleans.

Dick fell in love with boats when he was just a little boy and was an avid boater his entire life. For several years he delivered yachts (including his own) to and from Florida and CT. He spoke often and enthusiastically of his boating adventures from Maine to the Dry Tortugas, especially along the Intracoastal Waterway. After moving to the Cape, he loved to run his trusty Boston Whaler through the marsh and out to the Spit in Eastham and Orleans. Being close to saltwater was always important to him. He used to say “the ocean is like detergent. It launders the soul”.

Dick was a dedicated and faithful donor to the American Red Cross for over 60 years, having been inspired to give at the age of 18 when his rare blood type helped save the life of a little girl who was the first pediatric open heart surgery patient at Yale New Haven Hospital. Since then, he has donated many gallons of blood. He thought it a small sacrifice to make in order to help save a life.

Dick’s other passion – especially after retirement – was walking. Up until the time of his illness, he was still walking 5 miles or more a day - a trip which almost always included a stop at Skaket Beach. He never failed to give a friendly greeting, wave or smile to anyone he passed, and he loved nothing more than to stop and chat with the many friends he had acquired along the way.

However, nothing mattered more to Dick than his family. Dick and Paula met and fell in love nearly 40 years ago at the Watertown, CT hockey rink where their respective sons, Rick and Roger, played on the same youth hockey team, and where their daughters, Leah and Amy, would come to cheer their brothers on. A year later, in the spring of 1986, Dick and Paula, along with their four children, went to Block Island, RI where they married and became a family. This little band of six grew by leaps and bounds over the years, and to this day remains strong, loving and committed to each other. This could never have happened without Dick’s capacity to love each member of his blended family fully and unconditionally. He adored being “Poppy” to ten grandchildren and they adored him in return. He did everything he could to be a loving, positive, enthusiastic and fun presence in their lives, including running Camp Poppy for several years. Nothing in his 80 years gave him more joy or made him more grateful than the union made on Block Island so long ago.

Dick is survived by his devoted wife, Paula (Manganaro) Murphy, his loving children: Anna Leah Seabury Poole and son-in-law Jeffrey Poole of Middletown, RI; Richard B. Murphy III and daughter-in-law Sally McElroy Murphy of Alexandria, VA; Roger V. Ostrander III and daughter-in-law Kathy Holbrook Ostrander of Gulf Breeze, FL; and Amy Ostrander Twombly and son in-law Derek Twombly of Glastonbury, CT, and his grandchildren who were the lights of his life: Barnes Poole, Dabney and Stuart Murphy, Brook, Daly, and Roger Ostrander, and Aidan, Grayson, Quinn, and Mary Claire Twombly. He also leaves behind his sister and brother-in-law Catherine and Tom Lyons of Newcastle, ME, his brother Joseph Murphy of Tacoma Park, MD, his brother and sister-in-law William and Siobhan Murphy of Hartland CT, his brother-in-law Maurice Smith of Pinehurst, NC, and his brother-in-law and sister-in-law Frank and Donna Manganaro of Natick, MA, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sister Mary (Mundie) Smith and his sister-in- law Jane Hurst Murphy.

Calling hours will be from 4-6 pm on January 2, 2023 at Nickerson Funeral Home, 77 Eldredge Pkwy in Orleans, MA. A funeral mass will be held on January 3, 2023 at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Orleans at 11 am, followed by a burial at the Orleans Cemetery in East Orleans, MA.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be made, in Dick’s memory, to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105, www.stjude.org, Memorial ID# 23247756, or Tunnel to Towers Foundation, 2361 Hyland Blvd, Staten Island, NY 10306, www.t2t.org.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.nickersonfunerals.com