Madeline Wheeler Murphy, a passionate community activist, civil rights champion and popular panelist on the WJZ-TV show Square Off, died of a heart attack Sunday at her Roland Park Place residence. She was 84.
Mrs. Murphy was active in city politics and ran for City Council three times, twice in the 1960s and again in 1983, the same year that her son, William H. Murphy Jr., made an unsuccessful bid to unseat then-Mayor William Donald Schaefer in the Democratic primary.
Mrs. Murphy often appeared as a guest on local television and radio shows, most notably Square Off, where she aired her progressive views and seemed to relish clashing with conservative panelists. She was also a columnist for the Afro American newspaper for more than two decades and later published her columns in a book.
Mrs. Murphy's husband, District Judge William H. Murphy Sr., died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 2003. The couple were longtime residents of Cherry Hill until they moved to Roland Park Place in recent years.
Judge Robert M. Bell, chief judge of the Court of Appeals, described Mrs. Murphy as "outspoken" and "brilliant."
"She was an activist type who was more prone to action than simply words," said Mr. Bell, who served on the bench with the elder Mr. Murphy. "She wanted to get everybody inspired and to act in the best interests of this city. And she was not timid. She was a woman who did not fear to get into the male-dominated sectors."
Former Mayor Thomas J. D'Alesandro III said he got to know Mrs. Murphy when he was a city councilman and she was pushing to pass civil rights legislation.
"I had a nickname for her," he said. "I used to call her Geronimo - she was always on the warpath. But she was always factual, straightforward, honest in her presentations.
"She was a great lady, a great lady - really something special," he said.
Born in Boston and raised in Wilmington, Del., Mrs. Murphy graduated from Howard High School, where she was valedictorian.
She had attended Temple University in Philadelphia for two years when she met her husband at a dance at a nearby university.
She married at the age of 19 in 1942. The couple lived in Delaware and Chicago briefly, before moving to the Baltimore area in 1945. They lived in Turners Station for about a year before moving to Cherry Hill, where they eventually bought a house and raised five children, becoming longtime residents and well-known activists.
