Friends and family mourn the death of Notre Dame student Conor Murphy
By FINN PRESSLY
Senior Staff Writer
With family and friends at his bedside, Notre Dame junior Conor Murphy passed away Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. following a year of intensive treatment for leukemia.
The Notre Dame community joined together in prayer Tuesday with a special Mass in Zahm Hall to bring together those on campus touched by Murphy. In preparation for his bone marrow transplant last April, a campus-wide bone marrow drive attracted hundreds of students.
The response from the Notre Dame community has overwhelmed the Murphy family, and has reaffirmed their faith in the spirit of family here, according to Father Jim Lies, a former rector of Zahm Hall who kept in close contact with Conor and the Murphy family during his illness.
"When [Conor's mother] came to Freshman Orientation at Notre Dame, she was a little skeptical of all the talk about the Notre Dame family," said Lies. "But she said that in the last year she has come to know what that means, and values it nearly as much as her own family."
"I think they will always take pride that Conor went to Notre Dame and met so many fine people there," he said. "They will always be incredibly grateful for all that Notre Dame has done for him and all that they have done for the family."
The Zahm Hall community in particular has been profoundly affected by him, according to current rector Father Tom Bednar.
"Zahm has a great spirit of brotherhood, and there's sense of the loss of a brother," he said. "But the same time, there's a pride in being able to comfort each other and console each other."
The wake is scheduled for Friday afternoon from 2 to 8 p.m. at McGorray's Funeral Home in Lakewood, Ohio. The viewing will take place Saturday morning from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in the gymnasium of Saint Ignatius High School, followed by the funeral mass at 11:30 a.m., which will also take place at Saint Ignatius.
The Office of Student Affairs is sponsoring bus transportation to Cleveland for a limited number of students. Busses will depart Notre Dame early Saturday morning and return that night. Complete information will be made available in Friday's Observer.
In lieu of flowers, Murphy's family requested that donations be made to scholarships in his name at either Saint Ignatius High School or the University.
All News Stories for Thursday, February 1, 2001
