Dear Urban Community,

It is with a heavy heart that I share this sad news. On Tuesday morning, our dear friend Dan Murphy suffered a fatal heart attack as he was riding his bike in Marin. When he retired in November 2017, Dan had been at Urban for 50 years, teaching history and English, and as a dean and college counselor.
 
Dan was both a serious and a joyful man who lived lightly on the earth. He lived a purposeful life and with the greatest integrity – and he passed away doing what he loved. 



 

There are so many images and memories of Dan that come to mind: the daily Murphy "uniform:" blue shirt, running shoes and khaki pants; his Biblical Literature and Con Law courses; the Orwell course; Cal Studies and the blue Urban bus, El Cometa Halley; helmeted Dan rolling into the garage on his daily bike ride to Urban. With his dry and quick wit, Dan made us laugh – the uproarious laughter in his classroom and in the office we shared; his Vermont Sitting Club monologues on the all-school trip; the "William Refrigerator Perry Award" for perfect attendance; and his wonderful poems, often about his beloved Giants.

 

More than anyone, Dan lived and molded the ethos of and passion for deep inquiry and learning that we cherish today at Urban. He believed that both the teacher and the student were seekers and equal partners in learning, and he made every class meeting a joyous and exuberant exploration. He always took his students and their ideas seriously.

 

Dan was incessantly curious and enthusiastic; he possessed an infectious sense of wonderment about the world and the beauty and grandeur of nature. He was an avid biker – and into his retirement was training and biking competitively. The accumulated mileage of his 50 years of biking to Urban were the equivalent of many circumnavigations of the world.

 

His wife Mary sent us Dan's favorite Hebrew devotional poem:

 

The God of Old
I will sing to God, who probes the heart, 
As the morning stars give voice. 
Think now of the soul, sparkling 
Like amber, agate, amethyst,

Whose light is as bright as the sun,

Seven times the light of morning.

 

Let us remember Dan this way, for the light and the joy he brought to us. All of us at Urban have been profoundly touched and inspired by Dan. And let us keep his wife, Mary, and sons Aaron ('85), Patrick ('88) and Brian ('91), in our thoughts.

 

My love and deepest condolences to each of you,

 

LeRoy Votto