Murphy Honored With American Society Of Landscape Architect's Public Service Award

Unusual in this day of specialization, Richard Murphy Jr. is a businessman who is equally at home in two completely different professional spheres: logistics management and landscape architecture. 

Murphy is president and CEO of Murphy Companies, a collaboration of five firms with 235 employees focused on supply chain logistics and transportation services for domestic and international clients, as well as real estate development and management. 

Murphy also is an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, where he teaches the graduate level, professional practice class. For the past 19 years, every student who pursued a landscape architecture degree program through the University of Minnesota has taken Murphy's class to learn how to run a design business. 

Murphy was recently honored for his teaching with a Public Service Award from the Minnesota Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (MASLA). Bruce Chamberlain, MASLA's president, said, "Richard has impacted an entire generation of Landscape Architects in our community." In 2005 he was honored by the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture with a "Distinguished Teaching Award." 

 "I know how to run a business and this gives me the opportunity to give back to a profession I love," said Murphy. "I want my students to understand that managing a firm is just as important and just as creative as designing environments. Managing design firms, which are in the business of creativity, are a special challenge because creativity and management controls must be kept in balance through leadership." 

Though he holds degrees in landscape architecture, Murphy joined his fourth generation family business, Murphy Warehouse Company, in 1983. Not surprisingly, Murphy has been able to incorporate his skills in landscape architecture into his company. His designs are featured at three of the company's distribution centers; he chose native plantings, such as prairie grasses, for their ecological and aesthetic benefits. All three are used by the Metropolitan Design Center as examples of good industrial design.

Murphy earned bachelor's degrees in environmental design and landscape architecture from the Institute of Technology, University of Minnesota and a master's degree in landscape architecture from Harvard University. Murphy also holds a master's of business administration degree from the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. 

About Murphy Companies

Murphy Warehouse Company, the flagship, is a family-owned, full-service supply chain logistics company based in Minneapolis, Minn. Founded in 1904, Murphy is one of the Upper Midwest's largest asset-based logistics companies and serves more than 250 companies ranging from Fortune 500 to start-up companies. Murphy works with their clients as strategic partners to create and maximize logistics solutions. The company provides a wide range of services, including warehousing, distribution, transportation, cross-docking, fulfillment, administrative, as well as international logistics through their Midwest International Logistics Center. For more information, visit www.murphywarehouse.com.