[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 74 (Friday, June 7, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E987]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO CHARLES H. MURPHY, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARION BERRY

                              of arkansas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 6, 2002

  Mr. BERRY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor one of Arkansas's 
finest citizens, Charles H. Murphy, Jr. I am proud to recognize Mr. 
Murphy in the Congress for his invaluable contributions and service to 
his profession, his family, his State and this Nation.
  Mr. Murphy was born in El Dorado, Arkansas on March 6, 1920, and 
became head of the Murphy family enterprise at the age of 21 after his 
father suffered a stroke in 1941. Mr. Murphy served in the armed forces 
for three years during World War II, and returned to El Dorado in 1946 
to begin expanding the family business which was subsequently 
incorporated in 1950.
  Under his leadership, Murphy Oil grew from a small oil and gas 
operation in southern Arkansas into a publicly-held, integrated oil 
company with international operations and scope. Mr. Murphy served as 
President of Murphy Oil from 1950 to 1972, Chairman and CEO from 1972 
to 1986 and Chairman from 1986 to 1994. He retired from the board of 
directors in 2001 and was named director emeritus of the Company.
  As a leader and spokesman for the oil industry, Mr. Murphy lectured 
widely in the United States and Europe where his audiences included 
OPEC oil ministers and the heads of national oil companies. He debated 
then-Senator Mondale on national television on the issues of price 
controls and divorcement in the oil industry. He also debated Lord 
Kearton, chairman of the British National Oil Corporation, on the role 
of national oil companies.
  He served as chairman of the National Petroleum Council and as a 
director of the American Petroleum Institute where he also served as 
president of the 25 Year Club of the Petroleum Industry. For his work 
in bringing together oil industry leaders and national leaders of the 
environmental movement, Mr. Murphy was honored by both. He received the 
National Wildlife Federation's citation for outstanding individual 
service, and was a 1999 winner of the Chevron Conservation Award. In 
1999, Mr. Murphy was one of the first honorees of the University of 
Arkansas School of Business Hall of Fame.
  Educated in the public schools of Arkansas and by private tutors, Mr. 
Murphy received doctor of laws degrees from the University of Arkansas 
in 1966 and from Newfoundland Memorial University in 1995. Keenly 
interested in education issues, Mr. Murphy served 17 years on the 
Arkansas Board of Higher Education, 10 years as trustee of Hendrix 
College and established the Murphy Institute of Political Economy at 
Tulane University. He also served as a director of the Smithsonian 
Institution and was a trustee of the Ochsner Medical Institutions. He 
was a member of the Arkansas Business Council and served as chairman of 
its K-12 subcommittee.
  The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette called him ``a kind of one-man 
renaissance, a man of Arkansas and the Caribbean and the world.'' I 
couldn't agree more. Charles Murphy was my friend, and I forever will 
be honored by that friendship.
  On behalf of the Congress, I extend sympathies to Mr. Murphy's 
family, and gratitude for all he did to make Arkansas and the world a 
better place.

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