John Wayne Murphy

John W. Murphy, the first full time president and CEO of the Flinn Foundation, a Phoenix, AZ based charitable trust, passed away October 22, 2025 at the age of 88. He joined the Flinn Foundation in 1981 as its executive director to provide professional direction and assist its founder and then president and CEO, Dr. Robert S. Flinn. Following Dr. Flinn's death in 1985, Mr. Murphy became the Foundation's president and CEO.

Under his direction, the Foundation was transformed from a modest family trust into a professionally staffed foundation known for its high-impact grantmaking in the Southwest. In the healthcare field, in John's first months, and in consultation with legislative leaders and Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt, the Flinn Foundation helped to shape and launch Arizona's Medicaid program (AHCCS). Later, the Foundation commissioned the Bioscience Roadmap to guide the state's future economic growth, helped recruit the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) to Arizona, launched the Critical Path Institute (CPath) in Tucson, and other biomedical research initiatives, and, in collaboration with Governor Janet Napolitano and Phoenix leaders, expanded the University of Arizona College of Medicine to its downtown campus adjacent to TGen.

Mr. Murphy also initiated the Flinn Scholars program, a scholarship program that awards financial support to Arizona's top high school graduating seniors who study at an Arizona public university, and helped shape several initiatives to stabilize Arizona's arts and cultural programs. He also supervised the site acquisition, design, and construction of the Foundation's own office complex on Central Avenue in Phoenix to serve as a no-cost conference meeting facility for qualified nonprofit organizations.

John Murphy was a member of the founding boards of TGen, CPath, Science Foundation Arizona, and Arizona's Grantmaker Forum. He also was a member of the Greater Phoenix Leadership and served on other community boards, including commissions on medical education and research for Governors Babbitt and Napolitano, and the City of Phoenix. He served as a chair of the Rhodes Scholar selection committee for Arizona and, upon his retirement in 2009, received an honorary doctorate degree in humane letters from Northern Arizona University. Nationally, Mr. Murphy served as a founding member and chair of Grantmakers in Health, the national philanthropic affinity group for private foundations that target the healthcare field, and also chaired the Conference of Southwest Foundations based in Texas.

A native of West Virginia, he was the eldest son of Dorsey L. and Beatrice M. (McCauley) Murphy of Clarksburg. He graduated from Washington Irving High School there, Marshall University in Huntington, WVa, and the University of Iowa. He later filled administrative positions at various colleges, including Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, before being invited to join the founding staff of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, NJ.

Survivors include his loving wife, Judith Smith; three daughters: Alyson E. Baer (Jason) of Bloomington, Indiana; Sarah M. Kinsey (Ed) of Austin, Texas; and Kathleen E. Skinner (Aaron) of Round Rock, Texas; and six grandchildren (Annika, Ethan, Kaya, Tyler, Ainsley, and Evangeline). He is also survived by his brother Keith (Shirley) of Clarksburg, W.Va. Private services for family and friends will be planned for a later date. In lieu of floral tributes, the family requests that gifts in Mr. Murphy's memory be made to National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to assure access to news and information, the W.Va 4-H Foundation to provide a camping experience to youth, or to nonprofit organizations, such as Save Our Setters, whose mission is the rescue and adoption of Irish and English Setters