Obituary: Thomas J. Murrin / A leader at Westinghouse, Duquesne University
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Thomas J. Murrin in 2006
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Thomas J. Murrin, who rose to the top ranks of Westinghouse Electric Corp. and went on to lead the business school of Duquesne University, died Monday at his home in McCandless with his wife, Dee, and their eight children at his side. He was 82.
The son of immigrant parents in New York City, Mr. Murrin moved to Pittsburgh in 1951 for his first job, with Westinghouse. Thirty-six years later, as president of the company's energy and advanced technology group, he appeared a likely pick to become the company's next chairman. But the job went to another executive, and Mr. Murrin retired.
In an interview in 2006, Mr. Murrin attributed the passing-over to the brasher aspects of his personality.
"Murrin," he said, "was a thick-skulled, occasionally dumb-witted Irish kid from the sidewalks of New York who sometimes was absolutely sure he knew what best ought to be done, but it flew in the face of the views and convictions of superior people, and so it didn't get done."
"Murrin, in the process, kind of got blackballed," he added. "I was outspoken about a lot of things."
But he soon was nominated by President George H.W. Bush to serve as deputy commerce secretary, with duties that included managing the 1990 U.S. census. Later that year, he was named dean of the business school of Duquesne University, where he had served as chairman of the board. The appointment of Mr. Murrin, a nationally recognized leader in an approach known as total quality management, was a prestigious one for the university, said John Murray, who was then president of Duquesne. Along with his duties as dean, and after he stepped down, Mr. Murrin taught classes based on his experiences in business.
"People crowded into his classes," Mr. Murray said. "These were unique in America. Nobody was offering these classes because they were really Murrin 101."
As an executive at Westinghouse, Mr. Murrin commanded loyalty among the workers he visited in the factories and engineering rooms, said Aris Melissaratos, who worked with Mr. Murrin for 20 years. Mr. Murrin took pride in building sophisticated products from scratch, he said.
"He had the old-school approach to manufacturing," Mr. Melissaratos said. "You've got to build everything, and you've got to build it right."
Born in New York City to the former Jane Dow, who emigrated from Scotland, and Thomas Murrin, who emigrated from Ireland, Mr. Murrin worked as an elevator operator as a teenager before attending Fordham University on a football scholarship. He played there under legendary coach Vince Lombardi, an experience Mr. Murrin spoke about for years to come.
First Published February 3, 2012 12:00 am
