The Rev. Daniel Bradley Murray, S.J., a longtime educator at Loyola Blakefield high school who introduced computers to the school's campus in Towson, died of a brain tumor Sunday at St. Joseph University's Jesuit residence in Lower Merion, Pa. He was 80.
Until his final illness, Father Murray, with his tousled white hair, black-rimmed glasses and wide smile, was a familiar and welcoming presence to Loyola students, faculty and parents for 30 years.
He made it a point to attend all student activities -- often sitting alone in a corner, grading papers as his bobbing head kept a sharp eye on whatever action was unfolding.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., he was the son of Thomas E. Murray Jr., a former federal Atomic Energy Commission member and founder of Metropolitan Device Corp., a national manufacturer of electronic components. His grandfather, Thomas E. Murray Sr., a collaborator of Thomas A. Edison, designed the socket for his incandescent light bulb. He also planned and built the world's first electric power plant for Edison Electric Light Co. on New York's 14th Street.
Interested in math and science as a youngster, Daniel Murray attended Loyola School in Manhattan, and graduated from Georgetown Preparatory School in Garrett Park in 1939. He attended Georgetown University until entering the Society of Jesus in 1942, and was ordained at Woodstock College in 1954.
Father Murray subsequently earned bachelor's and master's degrees in philosophy and theology from Georgetown University, and began teaching math and physics at Georgetown Prep in 1956. There in 1968, he became one of the first educators in the nation to introduce computer technology to a high school.
He left the school in 1972 to head the alumni program at Wheeling College in West Virginia for a year, before joining the faculty at Loyola Blakefield in Towson -- and, as at Georgetown Prep, he brought the school into the computer era. He also taught physics and math and was chairman of the math department.
He also had been treasurer of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus.
"He was an institution at Blakefield," said the Rev. James F. McAndrews, S.J., former president of Loyola Blakefield and now pastor of St. Theresa Roman Catholic Church in Mooresville, N.C. "He had a great interest in all of the students. He was the kind of person who thought that schools were for the students and that everything should be geared to them, and them alone."
