Murray Dodge

Murray Dodge died at age 81 on March 30, 2010 of prostate cancer, with complications of Parkinson's disease. He died peacefully at his home at the Quadrangle Retirement Community in Haverford, Pa., after a long brave struggle.
Mr. Dodge was born in Grosse Pointe, Mich. on March 9, 1929 to Percival and Elizabeth Dilworth Loomis Dodge of Grosse Pointe Farms. He was the great-grandson of 19th-century Connecticut governor Marshall Jewell, and great-great grandson of William Earl Dodge, founder of the Phelps-Dodge Corporation.
He was educated at the Brooks School, North Andover, Mass. and Yale University, class of 1950. He did graduate work in Information Storage and Retrieval at Drexel University. After two years in the Air Force, Mr. Dodge entered the computer world at its inception, working with Michigan Bell and its mainframe computers for a decade, and with the Auerbach Corp in Philadelphia from 1962-1968. After 18 months overseas designing a computer billing system for all Ford dealerships in England, he returned to Philadelphia to serve as vice president for Computer Services at Drexel Harriman Ripley from 1968 to 1970. Subsequently he became president of the Stock Clearing Corp. of Philadelphia from 1970-1981, and president of the Philadelphia Depository Trust Co., subsidiaries of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange.
Leaving the corporate world for the non-profit sector where he felt he could use his business experience for the greater good, Mr. Dodge raised funds for Resources for Human Development, and served at the Haverford School from 1984 to 1991 as its first Director of Development.
After retiring in 1991, Mr. Dodge became increasingly involved with community service. He was remarkable for his generosity of spirit. In addition to volunteering on behalf of Forty Plus, helping out-of-work executives over age 40 find jobs, he also raised money for Endow-A-Home, helping homeless mothers and their children find housing. He was a founding member of the Panhandle Civic Association in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and served on the board of the Jenkins Arboretum in Berwyn, Pa. He and his wife were foster parents to an orphaned Haverford School student, and their house was a designated "safe haven" for runaways until police could find more permanent homes.
Mr. Dodge's lifelong love of the outdoors, nurtured by 78 summers at the Huron Mountain Club on Lake Superior, was supplemented by river rafting in the Idaho wilderness, and fishing expeditions in the West and Alaska. He was a consummate fly fisherman and passed his skill on to others, including his sons and five-year-old granddaughter. Despite a gentle nature, he had a daring and adventuresome personality that led him at age 10 to build (with others) a secret tree house 50 feet high in a towering pine on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In middle age he took up windsurfing, and constructed in his garage an ultra-lite airplane that he flew all over southeastern Pennsylvania.
Music was also a major part of his life. He was a member of the Yale Glee Club, and a founding member of the Baker's Dozen, a 64 year old singing group at Yale. Mr. Dodge continued to perform for 25 years with the Grunyons, a capella vocal jazz group in Detroit, and with the Suburban Squires in Philadelphia. For many years with his wife Pixie he sang and played guitars in nursing homes and hospitals, while participating with the Wayne Oratorio Society, the Main Line Ecumenical Choir, the Yale Alumni Chorus, and singing groups at the Quadrangle Retirement Community. To the very end he would trade songs over the phone with his granddaughters.
He had a wide circle of friends wherever he went and was known for telling funny stories with appropriate foreign accents. He was a member of the New Warriors, a men's personal growth group. A deeply caring person, Mr. Dodge encouraged and mentored younger men, one of whom said, "Murray was a better father to me than my own father, and a better brother to me than my own brother." Another friend said, "He was the best of companions. He was serious and funny, high-minded and earthy, a man who tempered firm convictions with kindness, and was never ashamed to show friends that he cared about them." In his last months he completed the second volume of Murray's Memoirs, a compendium of stories that reflect his emotional honesty, unique voice, and whimsical humor.
His greatest interest and love was his family. He leaves his wife of forty-nine years, Margaret (Pixie) (nee Goodenough) of Grosse Pointe, Mich.; son Andy (born 1964), his wife Meggan, their daughters Murrie and Rigel Dodge of Castle Rock, Colo.; son Perry (born 1968), his wife Dianne, their daughters Hannah and Zoe Dodge of St. Charles, Mo.; several cousins, nieces and nephew. He is predeceased by his son Christopher in 1963, his brother Douglas Dodge of Hartford, Conn. in 2009, and his sister Anne Dodge Heenan of Grosse Pointe, Mich. in 2009.
Memorial service on Sat., May 1, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. at Church of the Good Samaritan, 212 West Lancaster Ave., Paoli, Pa., followed by a reception at the church. Memorial gifts may be sent to Endow-A-Home, 3721 Midvale Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19129.
Chadwick & McKinney Funeral Home, Inc., www.chadwickmckinney.com.

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