More reflections on former Rockville Centre Mayor Eugene Murray

Long before I’d ever heard the term “networking,” former Mayor Eugene Murray taught me all about it. When I joined the village as its in-house village attorney on Nov. 4, 1996, then-Village Administrator Tony Cancellieri took me aside and explained that Mayor Murray began each day at 6 a.m. celebrating Mass at St. Agnes, and ended his day at any one of a number of village meetings at around 11 p.m. In between, Tony said, the mayor did not miss a single village event.

No gathering was too small or insignificant; Murray generously and lovingly spent his days with everyone from the pre-schoolers at Rosa Lee Young all the way up to the seniors at the RVC’s Sandel Center. Consequently, Cancellieri explained that if the mayor was mad at you for any reason, by the end of the day so were approximately 500 people! The mayor also knew who was selling a house, looking for a house, needed work or help.

Mayor Murray taught me many things but to me the most important lesson was about relationships. He taught me that family came first because business could always wait. He taught me that a meeting could always be rescheduled but that a nursery school performance was a one-shot deal. He taught me that the little things matter and that the extra 30-seconds used to connect with a stranger make all the difference. He allowed my daughter Brittany — 6-months-old when I became a village employee — to grow up under my desk; he beamed with sincere pleasure when my big kids Nina and Jeremy came by from middle school for money for Front Street Bakery treats.

When I joined the Nassau County Bar Association’s Municipal Law Committee, the mayor could not have been more supportive. He knew something that I did not yet understand, which was that important relationships begin with small steps and develop gradually. He knew that trust and respect take time but that once established, relationships are forever. Under the Mayor’s tutelage, I established long-standing professional relationships with attorneys for Nassau County’s villages, towns and cities and also with the private practitioners who handle municipal matters for developers, individuals and civic associations. This led to coalitions that improved the village’s ability to accomplish its goals.

I now work with a number of law students and recent law school graduates at a difficult time in the legal profession. The best gift I offer is sharing the wonderful advice and philosophy that my mayor shared with me: family, hard work, trust, respect, relationships. Thank you, Mayor Gene Murray, for your wisdom and your strength.

Long time village resident Martha Krisel wrote a previous column, “As my mayor retires” that was published in the June 7-13, 2007 issue. At that time she suggested a new name for Village Hall, the Eugene J. Murray Village Hall — which is now its official name.