Cecil Murray
Cecil Murray | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | September 26, 1929 Lakeland, Florida |
| Died | April 5, 2024 (aged 94) Los Angeles, California |
| Education | Florida A&M University Claremont School of Theology (PhD) |
| Spouse |
Lois Bernadine Cousin
(m. 1958; died 2013) |
| Children | 1 |
Cecil Leonard "Chip" Murray (September 26, 1929 – April 5, 2024) was an American theologian.
Early Life[edit]
Murray was born in Lakeland, Florida, the second child of Janie Williams and Robert Murray.[1][2] After his mother died when he was three years old, Murray's father moved Cecil and his two siblings to West Palm Beach, Florida.[1][2] There, his father became a principal of a local high school and remarried.[1][2] During his middle and high school years, Murray became a junior preacher at his church, Payne Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (AME).[1][3] As a teenager, he and his brother Edward witnessed his father confront three white men who were harassing Black people waiting at a soup kitchen. In response, the white men attacked their father then Cecil and Edward.[1][3] After the incident, Murray's father made a blood oath covenant with his sons, swearing that they would always love and defend Black people.[3]
Early Career[edit]
Murray received a degree in history at Florida A&M University in 1951.[2] As a student there, he worked for the school newspaper and joined Alpha Phi Alpha, the oldest Black fraternity in the United States. After graduating college, he joined the Air Force, and stayed there for about a decade, working as a radar intercept officer and a navigator.[3] In 1958, when he was stationed at Oxnard Air Force Base, situated northwest of Los Angeles, his fighter jet crashed on takeoff, pinning Murray in the back of the plane.[1] Although the pilot, a white man from South Carolina, was able to rescue Murray, he fell into the burning gasoline, suffering fatal third-degree burns.[2][3] Murray then visited the pilot in the hospital before he died; later saying said that this incident "made [him] know that [he] had to live beyond [himself]".[1][2]
Pastoral Ministry[edit]
He became the pastor of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles in 1977.[1] After his retirement in 2004, he was later the John R. Tansey Chair of Christian Ethics at University of Southern California until his retirement in 2022.[1][4][5] Murray died of natural causes in Los Angeles on April 5, 2024, at the age of 94.[6][7]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Risen, Clay (April 9, 2024). "Rev. Cecil Murray, Leader Amid Los Angeles Riots, Dies at 94". The New York Times. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f Woo, Elaine (April 6, 2024). "Rev. Cecil 'Chip' Murray, voice of calm during L.A. riots, dies at 94". The Washington Post.
- ^ a b c d e Pollard-Terry, Gayle (April 6, 2024). "Cecil 'Chip' Murray, L.A. civil rights icon and spiritual leader, dead at 94". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
- ^ "Cecil L. Murray". usc.edu. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
- ^ "Cecil Murray". usc.edu. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
- ^ "Cecil L. 'Chip' Murray, influential pastor and civil rights leader in Los Angeles, dies". The Associated Press. April 6, 2024.
- ^ "Beloved Pastor Cecil "Chip" Murray Passes Away". Los Angeles Sentinel. April 5, 2024. Retrieved April 6, 2024.