.jpg)
The News-Gazette has learned of the death of Lexington native and conservation leader Joseph James “Jim” Murray Jr.
He died at his home in Charlottesville on Sept. 5, 2023.
Mr. Murray was born on March 13, 1930, in Lexington, the son of the late Joseph James Murray, longtime pastor of Lexington Presbyterian Church, and Dickson Vardell Murray. His father, along with postmaster M.G. Lewis, started the Lexington Area Christmas Bird Count, which continues to this day.
The younger Murray was educated at Davidson College (1947-1951) and Merton College, Oxford (Rhodes Scholar, 1951-1954). He served in the U.S. Army (1955-1956) and then taught for two years at Washington and Lee University, before returning to Oxford to earn a doctorate in zoology. In 1962, he joined the biology faculty of the University of Virginia. He chaired the Biology Department from 1984 to 1987; served as director of the Mountain Lake Biological Station for thirteen summers between 1964 and 1990; and mentored several generations of graduate students.
Mr. Murray was an active mountain climber and lifelong conservationist. A founding member of the Virginia Wilderness Committee, he served as its president in 1970 and again from 1997 to 2007. He helped to shepherd the passage of six wilderness bills through the U.S. Congress (1975-2009), which added over 200,000 acres to the National Wilderness Preservation System.
He was predeceased by his wife, Elizabeth H. “Bess” Murray, and is survived by his three children, Joseph J. “Joe” Murray III of Charlottesville, Alison J. “Tiki” Murray Levine of Charlottesville and William L. “Will” Murray of Long Beach, Calif.; and three granddaughters.
Memorial gifts in his memory may be sent to the Virginia Wilderness Committee, P.O. Box 1235, Lexington, VA 24450, or https://www.vawilderness.
