Lt. Raymond E. Murphy Memorial Scholarship Fund will continue after golf outing wraps

A memorial scholarship fund for a deceased FDNY lieutenant will continue to give 15 years after 9/11.

The Lt. Raymond E. Murphy Memorial Scholarship Fund will award $45,000 a year to students at three Bronx and Westchester schools for the foreseeable future, fund coordinators said.

However, the scholarship fund will no longer hold its major fundraising vehicle, the annual golf outing, said Edward Murphy, a brother of Lieutenant Murphy and a fund coordinator.

The golf event was held annually, most recently this past July at Blue Hill Golf Course in Pearl River, NY.

A couple of hundred people attended the outing every year. It featured a breakfast, cocktail hour, dinner and raffles, said Edward Murphy.

“It turned into what I am told was the premiere golf outing in the area,” he said. “Since the committee is getting older, and it was a lot of work for everybody, we decided to call it after 15 years.”

Lt. Murphy’s widow Linda Murphy, also a fund coordinator, will continue to donate $15,000 per year to each of the schools her children attended: St. Frances de Chantal, Iona Prep High School and Archbishop Stepinac, he said.

Each $15,000 school scholarship is split two ways: $7,500 for financial assistance to children of firefighters or emergency personnel, while the other $7,500 goes to general tuition assistance funds, said Edward Murphy.

For Linda Murphy, the scholarship is a way to honor her husband, as well as a way to give back to the community.

“After 9/11, when my husband died, everyone was so generous to us and my family,” she said. “(The fund is) just a way to pay that back and honor my husband’s memory.”

Linda Murphy said that she wanted to have an academic scholarship because her children’s education was so important to her husband.

Awards will continue to be given at graduation ceremonies at the earmarked schools every May and June, she said.

Edward Murphy said that different future fundraisers will fund the scholarship for the next 20 to 25 years.

Raymond Murphy spent much of his FDNY career at Engine 42 on Monroe Avenue, his brother said.

After his promotion to lieutenant, he was transferred to Ladder Company 16 in Manhattan.

The day of September 11th, Lieutenant Murphy was assisting in the removal of injured people, including a firefighter, after the collapse of the World Trade Center’s south tower.

After removing injured people to an ambulance staging area, Murphy and another firefighter went back to the horrific scene.

Shortly thereafter, a general evacuation of the area near the North Tower was called, and the building collapsed.

Murphy’s body was returned on October 1, 2001.

The lieutenant’s brother said that merchants and restaurants in Throggs Neck have been gracious enough to support the golf outing over the years, and fund coordinators are thankful.

His wife is especially thankful for the FDNY, their firehouses and personnel. They all made the golf outing a success year after year, she said.

Visit the fund’s website at www.ltraymurphy.org.

Reach Reporter Patrick Rocchio at (718) 260–4597. E-mail him at procchio@cnglocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @patrickfrocchio.