Rev. Cecil “Chip” Murray Sr. was a minister and civil rights leader who emerged as a calming voice during the Los Angeles Riots of 1992.
- Died: April 5, 2024 (Who else died on April 5?)
- Details of death: Died in Los Angeles at the age of 94.
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Rev. Cecil Murray Sr.’s legacy
Rev. Cecil “Chip” Murray Sr. grew up in the segregated south. Born in Lakeland, Florida, he went to Florida A&M University and joined the U.S. Air Force after graduation, retiring as a major after 10 years of duty. He went back to school, this time to the School of Theology at Claremont College, to earn his PhD in religion, and became a minister.
His road eventually led him to Los Angeles, where he became pastor of the First African Methodist Episcopal (FAME) Church. It was there that he captured national attention. When the city exploded into riots following the acquittal of the police officers who beat Rodney King (1965–2012), Murray stepped up to urge calm and worked behind the scenes to put plans in place to help refocus the anger that burned through the city. With his assistance, Donald E. Miller, the Leonard K. Firestone Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California (USC), formed the Center for Religion and Civic Culture to help understand the role religion plays in society.
Murray also put his efforts behind FAME Renaissance, his church’s non-profit fundraising organization, and helped bring $400 million in investments to the city’s low-income communities. In 2004, Murray retired from the church after 27 years and joined the USC faculty, where he was Tansey Professor of Christian Ethics and chair of the Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement. He pioneered the “Murray Method,” a style of church leadership that seeks to equip leaders to improve the communities they serve.
Notable quote
“The black poet Langston Hughes says, what happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or does it explode? In the history of our city, the dream deferred tends to explode.”—Interview with NPR, 2017
Tributes to Rev. Cecil Murray Sr.
Full obituary: Los Angeles Times
