Peter Murray

On the first chilly day of Fall, October 16, 2025, on a beautiful clear afternoon on the Navesink River in front of a fantastic sunset, Peter Murray moved on to his next adventure. He battled a vicious cancer for many months and never stopped fighting. He was 72, but had an impact on the world well beyond that time.
Pete was born and raised in the greatest city in the world (New York City). He grew up in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in a railroad apartment in the same building as his many cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. There, Pete loved playing hockey, stickball, and baseball for the Westsiders and the Iona Club. He also lived in Queens for short time, before moving to Matawan, NJ where he lived with his wife and family for the last 40+ years.
Pete touched many lives, and relished in the notion of helping other people. Always searching for the good in people, Pete's greatest joy was inspiring others to help those in need. He did this by supporting charities such as the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and by taking action such as his Talking Turkey project, which collects food during Thanksgiving for those in need. Pete sought to show that even little things could help people in a big way and lived these lessons for people to see. He loved doing things for others in secret, such as randomly leaving bagels or newspapers on friends' doorsteps or learning something they liked and anonymously leaving it with them. Pete was also an avid reader and runner, often utilizing his runs as a means to raise money for charity.
Many people know Pete as a New York City Police Officer, a position he was proud of his entire life. But that was one of many positions he worked to positively influence peoples' lives around him. At one time or another, Pete was: a radio DJ, a NYC taxi cab driver, a ConEd meter reader, a McDonald's manager, a middle-school Spanish teacher, a bagel, newspaper, and fur coat delivery person, a Youth Group director, a hockey coach, softball coach, and a member of the Tiffany & Co. security team. He had his own calligraphy business, where he preferred to be paid in chocolate. While that one paid well, his favorite job was being a grandpa, affectionately known as Dah.
Pete will be remembered by everyone he met. He is reunited with his mom and dad Peter and Frances Murray, but leaves his wife of 50 years, Maria, his daughters Jackie and Kellianne, sons Peter and Justin, daughter-in-law Erin, son-in-law Matt, grandchildren: Vaughn, Lillian, Dylan, Chance, Nathan, and Desmond, sister Karen, nieces, nephew and many many many dear cousins who will carry his legacy forward until they meet again.
Always looking for the happier parts of all situations, Pete has requested to throw a happy party and to have a memorial mass. The memorial mass will be held at St. Clement's Church in Matawan, NJ on Saturday, October 25, 2025 at 9:30AM.
In lieu of flowers, our Dah would absolutely love you to make a donation in his name to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. https://www.stjude.org/donate/donate-to-st-jude.html. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Peter Murray, please visit our floral store.