James Thomas Murphy

Faithful to Family
James Murphy, a Cantor Fitzgerald trader, kept his eye on the basics. His family were his friends, and together they were a big crowd. He and his wife, Mary, had two children and were expecting a third. He had 10 brothers and sisters, between the ages of 44 and 30, and 13 nieces and nephews. Most of them lived within a 20-mile radius of the Jersey Shore.

Mr. Murphy, 35, was the "ringleader," said Bill, his eldest brother. "His favorite thing was to get together with a big group of our family, with all our children. He'd get everybody to come have lunch on the beach and then go hang out on our parents' deck and cook out. He'd call people on the spur of the moment to go to watch football games, go to a bar and have lunch." At Christmas, he was the Santa Claus.

He liked to ski in Vermont and Vail, but otherwise was a homebody, Bill Murphy said. "He was innocent in a way. He was very apolitical, very low-key about most things. He was very happy to go home to his house. He was very happy to tell us that he and Mary were having another baby."