| John E. Murray Jr. | |
| Office1: | 11th President of Duquesne University |
| Term Start1: | May 1988 |
| Term End1: | May 2001 |
| Predecessor1: | Rev. Donald S. Nesti |
| Successor1: | Charles J. Dougherty |
| Office2: | Chancellor of Duquesne University |
| Term Start2: | May 2001 |
| Term End2: | February 11, 2015 |
| Birth Name: | John Edward Murray Jr. |
| Birth Date: | 20 December 1932 |
| Birth Place: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Death Place: | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Alma Mater: | La Salle University (1955) Catholic University of America (1958) University of Wisconsin–Madison (1959) |
John Edward Murray Jr. (December 20, 1932 – February 11, 2015) was a chancellor and a professor of law at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. He was a former dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and the Villanova University School of Law, as well as a former president of Duquesne University.
Murray was president of Duquesne University from 1988 to 2001, serving what the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette referred to as an "extraordinary tenure" that set "a standard of excellence and achievement that is truly remarkable and may prove hard to equal."[1] During his administration, Duquesne grew from a small, financially distressed Catholic university to a major research institution with over 10,000 students, a significant endowment, and numerous new buildings and facilities.[2]
Murray wrote a treatise on contracts and sales, Murray on Contracts , which is used by law students and practicing attorneys across America and has been cited in opinions by courts in numerous jurisdictions, including the United States Supreme Court.[3] He also was the principal author of the supplements for the landmark multiple-volume treatise Corbin on Contracts . In addition, he wrote 19 books and numerous law-review articles on the law of contracts and sales. In 1992, he teamed with a former law student, Jon Hogue, to practice law and was a named principal and consulting partner in the Pittsburgh law firm of Murray, Hogue and Lannis. He was appointed in 2004 as a representative to the Oversight Authority for the City of Pittsburgh by Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell.[4] Murray received the Distinguished Lifetime Service Award at the Eighth Annual International Conference on Contracts in Fort Worth in February, 2013.[5]
A native of Philadelphia, Murray most recently lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He died of a heart attack in February 2015, aged 82.[6] [7] He is survived by four children, six grandchildren, and his second wife, Marjorie Smuts.[8]