Thomas Murphy Jr., top Drexel alum

Thomas Murphy Jr., 89, of Havertown, honored by Drexel University as one of its most distinguished alumni, died of a pulmonary disorder Monday, April 26, at Lankenau Hospital.

On May 2, 2009, Mr. Murphy was one of 14 people inducted into the group known as the Drexel 100.

In the 1990s, he set up the annual Thomas Murphy Jr. Achievement Award for an accounting student at Drexel's LeBow College of Business.

Born in Olney, Mr. Murphy graduated from Olney High School in 1938, earned a bachelor's degree at Drexel with the Class of 1943, and was an officer in the Army Corps of Engineers until 1946.

His grandson Andrew Tosto said that, while with the accounting firm Main & Co., from 1946 to 1954, Mr. Murphy became a certified public accountant and, after Main merged with Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co., he was a Peat Marwick partner from 1965 until his 1981 retirement.

From 1981 to 1987, Tosto said, Mr. Murphy was an associate professor of accounting at Drexel.

Mr. Murphy's son, Thomas W., said his father was a member of the board of trustees at the Vanguard School in Paoli from 1976 to 2001, and chairman of the corporate board from 1991 to 1997.

He was the president of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants in 1975-76 and was a member of the Catholic Hospital Association.

In 1968, his college fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha, gave him its Order of Merit.

Besides his son, Mr. Murphy is survived by his wife of 57 years, Rosalie; daughters Anne Cook, Jean Tosto and Rosemary Murphy; nine grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

Visitation will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, April 28, at the Donohue Funeral Home, 8401 West Chester Pike, Upper Darby, and from 9 to 10 a.m. there Thursday, April 29, followed by a 10:30 a.m. Funeral Mass at St. Bernadette of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church, 1035 Turner Ave., Drexel Hill. Burial will be in SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple Township.