Remembering Don Murray, 1924-2006

Because Don Murray started the UNH journalism program in 1963, we like to think of ourselves as his big accomplishment. But Don (UNH 1948) was also a Pulitzer Prize winner, author of dozens of books, and a master teacher of writing. For 20 years he wrote a weekly Boston Globe column, called at first "Over Sixty" and later "Now and Then." In the New York Times magazine in 1998, Max Frankel wrote of that column, "There is only one correspondent truly covering the terror-filled front of old age: Donald M. Murray, a poet in prose."

Don Murray at the journalism reunion in 2003 with Natalie Jacobson '65, news anchor for Channel 5 in Boston, and Kevin Sullivan '81 of the Washington Post, 2003 Pulitzer Prize winner

Don's pioneering work in the teaching of writing influenced generations of writers, editors and teachers around the country and the world. His death on Dec. 30, 2006, prompted many of those people to write and talk about his impact on their lives. As David Cohen '66 put it, "We former students and acolytes of Don's are legion, and we experience his passing as if we were indeed his children."

For biographical info on Don, see the foreword to the memorial service program, written by Don's friend and fellow English professor Tom Newkirk. To the right you will find links to other writing about Don.  If you've written something you would like to see here, please send your comments, or a link to published material to:

journalism.program@unh.edu

News and Writings

TEN PIECES about Don by UNH alumni

Pieces by other friends

Alumni writing for the Web

News stories

Don on the air

Don's Writing

Donald Murray Visiting Journalist Program

Donald Murray Outstanding Journalism Award from the New Hampshire Writers Project

Donate

Don Murray Endowed Journalism Fund