Murphy Realty Gives Back
"Murphy Makes it Happen!” That banner on www.murphyrealty.com says a mouthful. CEO Jerry Murphy has been making things happen for more than 30 years, and his philosophy of community involvement is taken up by the more than 150 men and women who are themselves involved with Murphy Realty Preferred Homes. Jerry encourages his staff to give back to their communities as much as possible. Murphy people donate their time to youth programs like the Boy Scouts and the YMCA’s Reach Out to Youth programs and Camp Arrowhead. They work with kids' sports teams, on blood drives, municipal boards and the board of this Chamber. Murphy people perform regular KP duty at the St. Marks Soup Kitchen in Keansburg. They not only prepare and serve food to the needy but also do all the planning and shopping ahead of time – with their own money. Murphy people support community service clubs through membership and cash donations. They help raise funds for the Monmouth Day Care Center and Holiday Express.
The human dynamo behind all this is the boss, Jerry Murphy, the man who makes things happen. In his earlier career in banking Jerry helped found Shrewsbury State Bank which he served as treasurer and senior vice president. Later he was organizing founder, director and chairman of Tinton Falls State Bank. Since TFSB’s merger with Commerce Bank, Jerry has served as a director and vice chairman of Commerce’s shore regional board. In a career change in 1993 Jerry establish what would, in 12 short years, become a real estate empire. Today Murphy Realty practices good neighborliness in five locations – Rumson, Red Bank, Lincroft, Sea Girt, and their new office in West End, Long Branch. From the beginning Murphy Realty Preferred Homes has served its neighbors well – in business and in giving back.
Jerry has given back personally as founding president of the Tinton Falls Business & Professional Association, as a charter member of the Tinton Falls Rotary Club, former president of the Shrewsbury Business & Professional Association, past chairman of the Jersey Coast Chapter of the American Red Cross, former Borough Council president in Little Silver and member of that borough’s planning and zoning boards.
In December 2004 Jerry created the Murphy Realty Foundation to make more good things happen by raising serious money for Monmouth and Ocean County charities. Each year the foundation focuses on one major recipient. This year’s organization is the Monmouth Center for Vocational Rehabilitation which Jerry serves as director and chairman.
Jerry Murphy and Murphy people do make good things happen. Murphy Relocation Vice President and EMACC Director Karolyn Wray who works with the VNA’s Hospice program and at Riverview Medical Center as a volunteer in a child bereavement program, says, “You reach a point in life where you feel you have to make a difference in other people’s lives,” a succinct summation of the philosophy of Jerry Murphy and everyone at Murphy Realty Preferred Homes and the reason the company was honored with the Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce's 2005 Spinnaker Award as a Corporate Good Neighbor.