Veteran news executive Reg Murphy, who survived abduction decades ago, has died at 90

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.

His reporting career took him across the globe, including to Russia, China, Japan and the Middle East, Mercer University noted in a 2023 article about Murphy, who attended classes there in the 1950s. In the U.S., Murphy stressed journalism's importance for the health of the country and communities.

“Journalism is, in my mind, sacred,” he said in an interview last year for Mercer University. “It is a sacred trust to tell the truth and to try to give people enough freedom to be able to find the truth and then to pursue it.”

During his time as editorial page editor at The Atlanta Constitution, Murphy became the focus of a gripping story in 1974, when he was kidnapped and held for a $700,000 ransom. The kidnapper claimed to be part of a militia group wanting to stop “the lying of leftist newspapers.”

Two days later, Murphy was released in a motel parking lot after the ransom was paid. Within hours of his release, his abductor was arrested at his home and the money was recovered. The man was later convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison but ultimately served nine.

Murphy continued his long and successful career in journalism. Years later, Murphy gave a firsthand account of that harrowing experience in Golf Digest. It began when a man claiming he needed help donating 300,000 gallons of heating oil persuaded Murphy to ride with him to his lawyer’s office to sign papers. Murphy recounted what happened once he became suspicious.

“He was steering with his right hand, and with his left he leaned a handgun across his forearm, looked over, and said, ‘Mr. Murphy, you’ve been kidnapped,’ Murphy wrote. ”He tossed a roll of white adhesive tape onto my lap and told me to cover my eyes. With the gun pointing at me, I did as I was told and applied three strips from temple to temple."

A few minutes later, the car stopped and the kidnapper used rope to tie his wrists behind his back and then his ankles, Murphy wrote. Still blindfolded, Murphy was told to get in the trunk.

“When I was in the trunk, he tied my wrists to my ankles behind me so that my body formed a reverse-C,” he wrote. “This was very uncomfortable for my back. The trunk was shallow -- if I moved my head up even a few inches it hit the roof. I was breathing fast, but I was also trying to control my breath, trying not to panic.”

They drove for hours until he was led into a building, Murphy recounted. Before being shoved between a bed and the wall, he was allowed to speak on the phone to another editor at The Constitution, informing him he'd been kidnapped. It became national news, coming soon after Patty Hearst, the granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped by a far-left militant group.

Murphy said he lost 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) during the ordeal and suffered claustrophobia from the hours spent in the trunk. During his captivity, he replayed in his mind rounds of golf he had shot.

Two months later, Murphy said he was on a golf course at a charity event. On almost every hole spectators from the gallery asked for his autograph or to pose for a photo, he recalled. His passion for golf provided a therapeutic release from the kidnapping, his obituary said.

Murphy became an active volunteer with the sport’s governing body, the United States Golf Association, and served as its president in 1994 and 1995.

“Like so many USGA presidents before him, and since, Reg gave his time and expertise to help leave the game of golf even better,” said USGA CEO Mike Whan. “The USGA, and the people who play and love the game of golf, are better off because of Reg’s commitment, passion and leadership.”

Murphy was the son of Mae and John Lee Murphy, a schoolteacher and a store owner. He remained a strong supporter of Mercer, describing the school as “a place where I learned something about the who, what, where, why and how of journalism.” He served five terms on the Mercer Board of Trustees, his obituary said. Mercer honored his achievements by renaming its Center for Collaborative Journalism as the Reg Murphy Center for Collaborative Journalism.