John Edward Murphy Jr.

John Edward Murphy, Jr., 102, of Summit, New Jersey, and Fort Myers Beach, Florida died on March 16, 2024. Devoted husband to the predeceased Annetta Mary (McDonald) Murphy and dedicated father to ten children John, Kevin, Thomas, Raymond, Terrence, Margaret, Stephen, William, Robert, and Harold, John was born February 26, 1922, the sole child to John and Ruth Murphy of Hackensack, New Jersey. Despite the challenges of growing up in the Depression, John graduated from Hackensack High School skilled in the sciences while he filled his spare time working odd jobs like waiting tables at the soda shop or carrying golf bags at the country club. The pursuit of education and the work ethic that conditioned his growing years would hopefully become the catalyst for success in the future. When John’s studies at Fordham University were interrupted by the Second World War, he served as a medic in the waning months of the war before returning stateside to receive his diploma from Fordham and become a fully-fledged member of “the greatest generation”. Like many returning veterans, John took advantage of a booming postwar economy. The notion that timing is all was further bolstered when the pivotal event of John’s life occurred. During a vacation to Florida, John and a friend landed at the Jaycee Beach Club in St. Petersburg where he met a Canadian travel nurse, Anne McDonald. Their first date was at a local church for Christmas midnight mass. Eight months later they were married on August 23, 1952, in Chapeau, Quebec Canada. They settled in the bedroom community of Summit, New Jersey, and decided the central motif of their professional careers would be healthcare, particularly for the elderly. While Anne worked as a registered nurse at Overlook Hospital, John was a pharmaceutical salesman for Merck, Sharpe, and Dohme. At home, while the growing family lived on the third floor, Anne and John provided room and board and nursing care to seniors on the first and second floors. Eventually, they bought the Beverwyck Nursing Home in Parsippany, New Jersey, and operated this successful entity for 17 years. During this period John invested in Florida real estate and in 1966 he developed the Coquina Club Condominium in Naples. In 1973 John and Anne established their own real-estate company, JEMAAM, an acronym that underscored spousal partnership in life and love. As a successful business venture, the company constructed a condominium on Fort Myers Beach that Anne named Island’s End, the site where they would eventually retire. John’s legacy embraces far-reaching bounty. With each successful family business venture John offered his children unique opportunities for their own advancement, instant practical experience, and multiple options for career choices that were never available for the self-made man. Besides his 10 children, John leaves 16 grandchildren who loved their grandfather and prove through their own particular successes an appreciation for the kind sacrifices made by John. And there is no reason to think this pattern will not continue for his 14 great-grandchildren and generations to come.

John Edward Murphy Jr.

February 26, 1922 - March 16, 2024