Donald R. Murphy (1974)

MURPHY

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler
Date: 4/5/2013 at 07:33:33

Des Moines Tribune
Des Moines Iowa
Thursday, September 26, 1974
Page 1

Murphy, 79, Dies; Farm Journalist

Donald R. Murphy, a former editor of Wallaces Farmer, died of cancer Thursday morning at Pleasant Hill Nursing Center, 1211 Pleasant St., after an illness of three months.

A memorial service will be at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Dunn’s Funeral Home on Grand Avenue. The body has been cremated.

Mr. Murphy, 79, of 1835 Pleasant St., West Des Moines, joined Wallaces Farmer in 1919 and was editor from 1933 to 1955, when he became a contributing editor. He retired in 1968.

He also was editor of the Des Moines Sunday Register book page during the late 1920s and 1930s and was a contributor to many publications, including the New York Times, New Republic, Progressive, Printer’s Ink and the Palimpsest.

Mr. Murphy was a pioneer in farm opinion polling. He established such polls in Wallaces Farmer in 1937 and later, after nearly 30 years of research on the subject of readership in the magazine, wrote a book, “What Farmers Read and Like,” published by Iowa State University Press.

He also was an original advocate of the federal school lunch program.

In 1957, Mr. Murphy received the Reuben Brigham award of the American Association of Agricultural College Editors. He was agricultural marketing man of the year of the Chicago Area Advertising Association in 162, and the same year received the Des Moines Press and Radio Club’s Bent Cane Award for distinguished service to journalism.

Mr. Murphy, for many years, was chairman of the National Planning Association committee on agriculture, a member of the national committee of the American Civil Liberties Union and a curator of the Iowa Historical Society.

He was active in the Iowa Civil Liberties Union and a member of the Foreign Policy Committee and Des Moines Pow wow Club.

Mr. Murphy was born in Des Moines and attended Oregon Agricultural College at Corvallis, Ore. He farmed in Oregon briefly before enlisting in the Army during World War I and serving as an infantry officer.

Survivors include his wife, Zoe, two sons, Brian of Los Angeles, Calif., and Dennis of Wheaton, Ill., and seven grandchildren.

The family suggests memorial contributions to the Iowa Civil Liberties Union.

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