Thomas S. Murphy, the 1994 recipient of the NFF Gold Medal and the former chairman of Capital Cities/ABC, Inc., passed away May 25. He was 96.
 
Murphy was the first broadcaster/publisher to be honored with The National Football Foundation's Gold Medal, the organization's highest honor.

Murphy began his broadcasting career in 1954, taking over the management of Hudson Valley Broadcasting, a debt-ridden Albany, NY, television station with a weak UHF signal. It took three years, and several infusions of additional capital from such investors as broadcasting legend Lowell Thomas, but Murphy finally turned the station into a profit maker. That station was the beginning, the seed that grew into Capital Cities/ABC; a remarkable coalition of broadcasting, newspaper, magazine and book publishing, radio, cable and international television interests.
 
By 1985, Murphy had boosted Capital Cities to $1 billion in annual revenues, working in partnership with his longtime friend, Capital Cities president Dan Burke. In 1986, they completed a $3.5 billion acquisition of the much larger and then troubled American Broadcasting Companies, including the fledgling ESPN brand. He is credited along with Burke for increasing both profitability and efficiency of the company. Murphy retired as chief executive in 1990 at the age of 65, but he returned to the job in 1994 after Burke stepped down. A year later, Murphy joined with Disney CEO Michael Eisner to broker a $19 billion mega merger, creating what was considered at the time the most powerful entertainment company in the world.

Before his foray into the world of media and broadcasting, Murphy served in the Navy during World War II for three years; earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell in 1945; and worked briefly as an industrial oil salesman for The Texas Company, which later became known as Texaco with Murphy serving on its board of directors. In 1947, he went back to school and earned an MBA degree from The Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He spent a couple of years with the Kenyon & Eckhardt advertising agency and then as a brand manager for Lever Brothers.
 
Born in Brooklyn on May 31, 1925, Murphy served on numerous board of directors, including Berkshire Hathaway, General Housewares Corp., Texaco, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, and IBM Corporation. His prolific philanthropic work included Save the Children where he served as board chairman for seven years. He also served as the president and chairman of the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club in New York City, and he spent five decades, including seven years as chairman, on the board of trustees of Langone Health at New York University.
 
In 1955, he married Suzanne Crosby, who predeceased him in 2009. He is survived by four children, Emilie Murphy of Rye, Thomas Murphy Jr. of Greenwich, Conn., Kathleen Murphy of Boulder, Col., Mary Conlin of Los Angeles and nine grandchildren.