Obituary of Cornelius Murphy, M.D. (1920-2011)

* Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island, NY as a health physicist * George Washington University * Veterans Affairs

Cornelius Francis Murphy, M.D., 91, died of natural causes on October 10, 2011. He was a resident of Alexandria. Born in Tilton, NH, Dr. Murphy grew up in Lowell, MA. He won a scholarship to the prestigious Keith Academy in Lowell, where he graduated with honors in 1938. He also received a scholarship to Boston College, where he was a member of the Ricci Mathematics Academy, the German Academy, and the Physics Seminar. He graduated cum laude from Boston College with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics in 1944.

Fluent in French, German and Spanish, he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in the European Theater during World War II. After the war, he worked as a health physicist at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island, NY.

He received his Medical Degree from Georgetown University in 1956. After an internship in Internal Medicine, he took his residency in Radiology at Georgetown University Hospital. Dr. Murphy began his medical career in the Department of Radiology at George Washington University Hospital in 1960. He was also an Associate Professor of Medicine at The George Washington University School of Medicine.

Dr. Murphy, who also specialized in Nuclear Medicine, founded the Nuclear Medicine Division at George Washington University Hospital in 1964, where he served as its first Director. In 1972, he joined the Radiology Department at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Washington, D.C. to continue his research in the fields of ultrasound technology and thermography. He was a member of the American College of Radiology, the Society of Nuclear Medicine and many professional organizations, both in medicine and physics. He retired from full-time medical practice in 1990.

His wife of 45 years, the Honorable Betty Southard Murphy, died in 2010. Survivors include his children, Ann Southard Murphy, and Cornelius F. Murphy, Jr., longtime Murphy family housekeeper Astevia E. Rodriguez, and a grandchild, all of Alexandria. Three sisters also survive.