Reg Murphy, a renowned journalist whose newsgathering career included stints as an editor and top executive at newspapers in Atlanta, San Francisco and Baltimore - and who found himself the subject of national headlines when he survived a politically motivated kidnapping - has died at age 90.
Murphy, who lived on St. Simons Island, Georgia, died on Nov. 9.
John Reginald "Reg" Murphy was a Georgia native who early in his career covered state politics for the Macon Telegraph. He then worked as a reporter and editor at The Atlanta Constitution amid the civil rights movement. Murphy became editor and publisher of the San Francisco Examiner in 1975, then went on to serve as publisher at the Baltimore Sun.
As an editor, Murphy was inspiring, said Art Harris, a reporter at The Constitution who later followed Murphy to San Francisco, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. "That was his magic. He inspired people by building them up. He was a gentleman and a gentle persuader. I never heard him raise his voice. Not everyone liked his decisions, but he didn't let that dissuade him from making them."
Murphy later served in senior leadership roles at the National Geographic Society, where he helped introduce new media technologies expanding the global reach and impact of its print and video platforms.
