Video: John Murphy on Flinn at Fifty
Video: John Murphy celebrates 40 years of Flinn Scholars
John W. Murphy, the Flinn Foundation’s first employee, who transformed philanthropy in Arizona as its president and CEO, died Oct. 22. He was 88.
Murphy was instrumental in the creation of the Flinn Scholars Program and Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap among many other initiatives that continue to have a lasting impact in Arizona — while staying true to the vision and aspirations of founders Dr. Robert and Mrs. Irene Flinn.
He left the East Coast and arrived at his new desert home in March 1981 as executive director of the Flinn Foundation, at the time a relatively new private family trust that met in a law office.
The Flinn Foundation, which he served through 2009, would never be the same.
“From the moment that John Murphy accepted the Flinn family’s invitation to move from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to the Flinn Foundation, he had an extraordinary impact on what the Foundation became,” said Dr. Eric Reiman, chair of the Flinn Foundation board of directors, who worked with Murphy for 10 years. “He advanced our medical, bioscience, scholars, and arts programs and community investments in extremely impactful ways, assembled a talented team, and cultivated the development of a highly informed board.”
In Murphy’s early years with the Foundation, it funded an important study of indigent health care in Arizona that helped inform the design of Arizona’s Medicaid program, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). Other initiatives addressed the needs of parenting teens, the state’s Graduate Medical Education capacity, and enhancing biomedical research at the state’s universities.
The Foundation also initiated grantmaking in the arts and in 1986 welcomed the first class of Flinn Scholars — 20 excelling Arizona high-school seniors who would receive a full ride to one of the state’s public universities.
In addition to his role in designing the program, he secured partnerships with Arizona’s public universities and their honors colleges, and helped to build the Scholars community through his participation in retreats and enrichment activities and his personal interest in Scholars’ development well beyond their undergraduate years.
Current Flinn Foundation President and CEO Tammy McLeod, Ph.D., recalls seeing Murphy at a recent reunion of Flinn Scholars.
“He was so happy to connect with the Scholars, both those who he knew and those he did not,” McLeod said. “John’s visionary leadership left an enduring mark on Arizona. His foresight helped ignite the bioscience industry in Arizona and he built a scholarship program that continues to empower the state’s brightest young minds.”
Murphy supervised the design and construction of the Flinn Foundation building on Central Avenue in Phoenix that includes not only staff offices, but a conference center for nonprofits to use at no cost.
Meanwhile, Murphy offered support to other foundations that were emerging in Arizona, including several working in areas aligned with the Flinn Foundation’s priorities, such as the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust and St. Luke’s Health Initiatives (now Vitalyst Health Foundation).
After the turn of the century and opening of the new building, Murphy and the Foundation board turned their attention to biosciences. The Foundation launched Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap and helped recruit the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) to Arizona, create the Critical Path Institute (C-Path) in Tucson, and establish the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix as part of what today is known as Phoenix Bioscience Core.
“John was a man with the highest standards of integrity and excellence, both personally and professionally. His leadership at Flinn was instrumental in TGen’s founding, as he was among the early few who saw what the potential of bioscience would mean for Arizona,” said TGen President and Research Director Jeffrey M. Trent, Ph.D.
“That foresight and dedication continue to shape and inspire the transformative progress we see today.”
Murphy served on the boards of TGen and C-Path, was a member of Greater Phoenix Leadership, and served on city and state boards and commissions on medical education and research. He was chair of Arizona’s Rhodes Scholarship selection committee and, nationally, was a founding member and chair of Grantmakers in Health, helped to establish the Health Research Alliance, and chaired the Texas-based Conference of Southwest Foundations.
Through his years of service to Flinn, Arizona, and the country, Murphy never forgot the time he spent alongside Dr. Flinn.
“It was John’s ability to steward the intentions of Dr. and Mrs. Flinn that ensured that their legacy will benefit the people and communities of our state well into the future,” McLeod said. “Our thoughts are with his family, and we honor his extraordinary life and contributions.”
A native of West Virginia, Murphy graduated from Marshall University in Huntington, W.V., and the University of Iowa. He served as an administrator at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Penn., before joining the founding staff of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, N.J.
Upon his retirement in 2009, Murphy received an honorary doctorate degree in humane letters from Northern Arizona University.
Murphy is survived by his wife, Judy Smith, three daughters, six grandchildren, and a brother. Private services for family and friends will be planned for a later date.
The family has requested that gifts in his memory be made to National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service to assure access to news and information, the West Virginia 4-H Foundation to provide a camping experience to youth, or to nonprofit organizations, such as Save Our Setters, whose mission is the rescue and adoption of Irish and English Setters. The Flinn Foundation will be making a gift in John’s memory to Friends of Public Radio Arizona. Information about how to give to FPRAZ is here.
Video: John Murphy on Flinn at Fifty
Video: John Murphy celebrates 40 years of Flinn Scholars
Read more: David Frazer, longtime Flinn board member, dies at age 96