William Blake Murray of Rye passed away on September 8, 2021, with his wife of 47 years by his side. He was 75.
Born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn on May 5, 1946, he was the son of William and Kathryn Murray. Blake, as he was known, attended Brooklyn Prep and in 1967 graduated from Boston College with a BA in Economics.
A United States Army veteran, he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant upon graduation from the 508th Engineer Officer Candidate Regiment in June 1968. He served a year at Fort Eustis, Virginia, and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. He then served a year in Vietnam and received the Bronze Star Medal for his service there.
He went on to earn an MBA from New York University and began his business career at the Discount Corporation of New York (DCNY), where he managed a fixed income sales force for over 20 years. He was later employed in similar capacities at Deutsche Bank Securities, Prudential Financial, and the Bank of New York, and concluded his business career at MarketAxess.
Mr. Murray had a second career as a Professor of Economics and served as the Senior Academic Advisor to students matriculating at Berkeley College from Guizhou University of Finance and Economics (GUFE), a Berkeley College Global Alliance partner. He taught in both the U.S. and China.
“Blake was a loving and devoted husband, father, and grandfather, and a loyal and caring friend to the many people he connected with throughout his life. He was warm, inquisitive, and funny,” said his family. “He loved anything and everything BC, OCS reunions, and reading about history. He was optimistic and energetic.”
In addition to his wife Maurine, Mr. Murray is survived by his daughters, Courtney Storz and Brooke Murphy; sons-in-law Erik Storz and Charlie Murphy; seven grandchildren, Caroline, Liam, Charlotte, and Luke Storz, and Lila, Charlie, and Mary Murphy; his brother, Robert Murray; and his sister, Virginia Dealy.
A Mass of Christian burial was celebrated September 16 at Church of the Resurrection.
