Dr. Quentin Maurice Murphy
Dr. Quentin Maurice Murphy of Brookfield, CT, passed away at the age of 82 on September 1st, 2024, with his loving wife and children by his side. They all describe him as the best man they have ever known.
Quentin was born on July 6th, 1942, in New York, NY, to William Joseph Murphy and Gertrude Mulville Murphy. He was the fifth of six brothers (all known as "Murph"), and he loved sharing stories about his antics with his friends and his brothers in Pelham, New York, and the summers he spent with his family in Norfolk, CT, and then on Candlewood Lake. Quentin graduated from Pelham High School in 1960 and from Williams College in 1964. At Williams, he played football and rugby and made friend she remained close with throughout his life. He met Susan Teipel while at Williams. After one date, he was in love, and he and Susan were married in 1965.
Quentin received his DDS from theColumbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery in 1968. He was awarded an Army internship and served as an Army dentist for three years, receiving a letter of commendation for his service.
Quentin practiced dentistry-first alongside his father, then later in solo practice-and raised his three children with Susan in Bronxville, New York. Quentin valued fairness, loyalty, and honesty, and he demonstrated these values to his children Peter, Debby, and Betsy through his hard work, his service to his community, and his steady love for his family. In Bronxville, Quentin served as the President of both the Rotary Club and the Community Fund. He was a Fellow of the American College of Dentistry and served as the President of the New York Academy of Dentistry and the New York branch of the American College of Dentistry. Upon his retirement after forty-four years, he received dozens of letters from patients who recalled the trust they felt not only in his exceptional skill but also in his compassion, his fairness, and his sincere care for them and their families.
Quentin's steadfastness and dependability were matched by his humor and his brilliant, inventive creativity. He wrote and illustrated stories for his children and pursued ideas for improving the world through inventions that ranged from a flat-folding pen to renewable energy. He holds the patents for an innovative laser-assisted dental drill and for a non-invasive form of imaging known as Radar Tomography.
In his retirement, Quentin and Susan moved to their home overlooking his favorite place in the world, Candlewood Lake, where they were part of a wonderful community of friends and family. In the mornings he would frequently look up from his crossword puzzle to express his joy in the beauty of their view. He owned his first boat at age fourteen, and he continued to love exploring the lake. He enjoyed taking walks in the surrounding towns and parks with Susan and with the Danbury Men's Club. He was an athlete throughout his life, and played paddle and tennis, first at the Field Club in Bronxville and later with a great group of neighbors, the SWAT group (Seniors Wild About Tennis), three times a week at the Candlewood Lake Club.
Most of all, Quentin loved his family, and he expressed his love for and pride in his children and grandchildren regularly. He considered himself blessed to have met his first great-grandchild this past May. Each night in his last few years, he and Susan would step outside before bed to look at the lake and the stars, and he would tell her how, when she agreed to marry him, his friends told him, "Murph, you are so lucky."
Quentin is preceded in death by his parents, William and Gertrude; his brothers Stephen, Nicholas, Anthony, and Jerome; and his granddaughter Kara. He is survived by his wife, Susan; his brother, Thomas Gregory; his children, Peter (and his wife, Babette), Deborah (and her husband, Matthew), and Elizabeth (and her husband, Michael); his grandchildren, Amanda, Thomas, Helen, Megyn, Quentin, Margaret, and Maren; and his great-granddaughter, Sapphire Rose.
Calling hours will be held on Friday, September 6th, from 4 p.m.–7 p.m. at Lillis Funeral Home, 58 Bridge Street, New Milford, CT. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, September 7th, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Church, 138 Candlewood Lake Road, Brookfield, CT. Burial will follow at St. Mary's Cemetery in Norfolk. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
I (Kritz) drafted a short statement regarding Quentin Murphy, one of my freshmen year roommates (along with Al Sachtleben and Bill Knapp). Enjoy….
Kritz (Frank Kritzer)
Quentin M Murphy (“Murph”)
I was “Murph’s” bunkmate during our first semester at 39 Sage (Entry E). Murph was playing football, and his playing weight then was about 230. He was on the upper bunk above me. This was not a problem … until football season ended. At that point, Murph, perhaps affected by some fermented beverages, found it difficult to levitate to the upper bunk. His solution: get a running head start down a long hallway and leap up and land on the bed. Murph was agile, but he was not a gazelle. His first attempt was a trainwreck! The naïve student below him was soundly sleeping. When Murph crashed into the bed frame, it felt like a 7.0 seismic earthquake. The bunkmate felt like he'd been suddenly crashed into Entry F. After two more tries (Crash!and Crash!), Murph somehow finally made it up – where he promptly lost consciousness. He, of course, didn’t remember any of this.
Murph may have been involved in some campus pranks … tangentially. I’m not suggesting, of course, that he was a perpetrator. He escaped culpability when a highway construction sign mysteriously appeared in his Morgan Hall room. He escaped identification when Professor Freeman Foote demanded to know who were the partiers disrupting, allegedly, the Gargoyle tapping ceremony below their Morgan Hall fire escape perch. [College records suggest it was a hitherto unknown classmate named “Alfie Gonfiers” [?]. He wasn’t so lucky in avoiding identification when an Amherst fraternity’s jukebox was liberated and headed north. Somehow, he avoided “Chapel Probation” when Williams still had that silly rule about mandatory church attendance.
I don’t remember Murph hitting the books too often or too hard. I don’t think he had to. Like many of his Phi Gam brothers, he could cram in the final few days before finals and slither through with ease. Murph graced the Phi Gam house with its first porcine resident, “Miss Piggie.” She became a campus legend. When she became too large to remain a Murph roommate, Miss Piggie was transferred to a local farm, where, due to a small miscommunication, she soon became bacon. With these qualifications, Murph earned the honor of being an initial Gurgle member.
My wife first met Murph at our 25threunion. Her impression was that Murph was a quiet, conservative professional, a dentist who enjoyed going home at lunchtime for a nap. I explained that Murph may have calmed down, but there were valid reasons he had been elected to Gurgle.
When Murph first arrived on campus, he was derided by his brothers for being the first family male in generations not to attend Colgate. He smiled, and then told his older brothers where to go. He said he never regretted coming to Williams.
Murph was a delightful bunkmate and roommate. I’m so glad we had a chance to talk at our 60th.
David Macpherson
Quentin Murphy Obituary
Dr. Quentin Maurice Murphy
Dr. Quentin Maurice Murphy of Brookfield, CT, passed away at the age of 82 on September 1st, 2024, with his loving wife and children by his side. They all describe him as the best man they have ever known.
Quentin was born on July 6th, 1942, in New York, NY, to William Joseph Murphy and Gertrude Mulville Murphy. He was the fifth of six brothers (all known as "Murph"), and he loved sharing stories about his antics with his friends and his brothers in Pelham, New York, and the summers he spent with his family in Norfolk, CT, and then on Candlewood Lake. Quentin graduated from Pelham High School in 1960 and from Williams College in 1964. At Williams, he played football and rugby and made friend she remained close with throughout his life. He met Susan Teipel while at Williams. After one date, he was in love, and he and Susan were married in 1965.
Quentin received his DDS from theColumbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery in 1968. He was awarded an Army internship and served as an Army dentist for three years, receiving a letter of commendation for his service.
Quentin practiced dentistry-first alongside his father, then later in solo practice-and raised his three children with Susan in Bronxville, New York. Quentin valued fairness, loyalty, and honesty, and he demonstrated these values to his children Peter, Debby, and Betsy through his hard work, his service to his community, and his steady love for his family. In Bronxville, Quentin served as the President of both the Rotary Club and the Community Fund. He was a Fellow of the American College of Dentistry and served as the President of the New York Academy of Dentistry and the New York branch of the American College of Dentistry. Upon his retirement after forty-four years, he received dozens of letters from patients who recalled the trust they felt not only in his exceptional skill but also in his compassion, his fairness, and his sincere care for them and their families.
Quentin's steadfastness and dependability were matched by his humor and his brilliant, inventive creativity. He wrote and illustrated stories for his children and pursued ideas for improving the world through inventions that ranged from a flat-folding pen to renewable energy. He holds the patents for an innovative laser-assisted dental drill and for a non-invasive form of imaging known as Radar Tomography.
In his retirement, Quentin and Susan moved to their home overlooking his favorite place in the world, Candlewood Lake, where they were part of a wonderful community of friends and family. In the mornings he would frequently look up from his crossword puzzle to express his joy in the beauty of their view. He owned his first boat at age fourteen, and he continued to love exploring the lake. He enjoyed taking walks in the surrounding towns and parks with Susan and with the Danbury Men's Club. He was an athlete throughout his life, and played paddle and tennis, first at the Field Club in Bronxville and later with a great group of neighbors, the SWAT group (Seniors Wild About Tennis), three times a week at the Candlewood Lake Club.
Most of all, Quentin loved his family, and he expressed his love for and pride in his children and grandchildren regularly. He considered himself blessed to have met his first great-grandchild this past May. Each night in his last few years, he and Susan would step outside before bed to look at the lake and the stars, and he would tell her how, when she agreed to marry him, his friends told him, "Murph, you are so lucky."
Quentin is preceded in death by his parents, William and Gertrude; his brothers Stephen, Nicholas, Anthony, and Jerome; and his granddaughter Kara. He is survived by his wife, Susan; his brother, Thomas Gregory; his children, Peter (and his wife, Babette), Deborah (and her husband, Matthew), and Elizabeth (and her husband, Michael); his grandchildren, Amanda, Thomas, Helen, Megyn, Quentin, Margaret, and Maren; and his great-granddaughter, Sapphire Rose.
Calling hours will be held on Friday, September 6th, from 4 p.m.–7 p.m. at Lillis Funeral Home, 58 Bridge Street, New Milford, CT. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, September 7th, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Church, 138 Candlewood Lake Road, Brookfield, CT. Burial will follow at St. Mary's Cemetery in Norfolk. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Dick "Skip" Dunn
I (Kritz) drafted a short statement regarding Quentin Murphy, one of my freshmen year roommates (along with Al Sachtleben and Bill Knapp). Enjoy….
Kritz (Frank Kritzer)
Quentin M Murphy (“Murph”)
I was “Murph’s” bunkmate during our first semester at 39 Sage (Entry E). Murph was playing football, and his playing weight then was about 230. He was on the upper bunk above me. This was not a problem … until football season ended. At that point, Murph, perhaps affected by some fermented beverages, found it difficult to levitate to the upper bunk. His solution: get a running head start down a long hallway and leap up and land on the bed. Murph was agile, but he was not a gazelle. His first attempt was a trainwreck! The naïve student below him was soundly sleeping. When Murph crashed into the bed frame, it felt like a 7.0 seismic earthquake. The bunkmate felt like he'd been suddenly crashed into Entry F. After two more tries (Crash! and Crash!), Murph somehow finally made it up – where he promptly lost consciousness. He, of course, didn’t remember any of this.
Murph may have been involved in some campus pranks … tangentially. I’m not suggesting, of course, that he was a perpetrator. He escaped culpability when a highway construction sign mysteriously appeared in his Morgan Hall room. He escaped identification when Professor Freeman Foote demanded to know who were the partiers disrupting, allegedly, the Gargoyle tapping ceremony below their Morgan Hall fire escape perch. [College records suggest it was a hitherto unknown classmate named “Alfie Gonfiers” [?]. He wasn’t so lucky in avoiding identification when an Amherst fraternity’s jukebox was liberated and headed north. Somehow, he avoided “Chapel Probation” when Williams still had that silly rule about mandatory church attendance.
I don’t remember Murph hitting the books too often or too hard. I don’t think he had to. Like many of his Phi Gam brothers, he could cram in the final few days before finals and slither through with ease. Murph graced the Phi Gam house with its first porcine resident, “Miss Piggie.” She became a campus legend. When she became too large to remain a Murph roommate, Miss Piggie was transferred to a local farm, where, due to a small miscommunication, she soon became bacon. With these qualifications, Murph earned the honor of being an initial Gurgle member.
My wife first met Murph at our 25th reunion. Her impression was that Murph was a quiet, conservative professional, a dentist who enjoyed going home at lunchtime for a nap. I explained that Murph may have calmed down, but there were valid reasons he had been elected to Gurgle.
When Murph first arrived on campus, he was derided by his brothers for being the first family male in generations not to attend Colgate. He smiled, and then told his older brothers where to go. He said he never regretted coming to Williams.
Murph was a delightful bunkmate and roommate. I’m so glad we had a chance to talk at our 60th.