Father Eugene M. Murray, a longtime Maryknoll missioner to Taiwan, died Sept. 18 in Taichung, Taiwan. He was 90.
In Taiwan, he served in several parishes, including at the Taichung Cathedral parish as a curate. He received the Taiwan Citizenship Award in 2017 as a pastor in Ching Shui.
He taught English conversation at a Catholic girls high school in Taichung. He was assigned to the advanced course in Taiwanese at the Maryknoll Language School and became the Language School director. He later ran the Taichung Language School.
In 1975, he was assigned to serve in Washington, D.C., with the U.S. Catholic Conference Migration and Refugee Service in its Vietnamese resettlement work. He returned to Taiwan in October 1976.
He served as a chaplain at Taichung Prison for many years. In 1990, he began teaching English at Providence University until 1998, the year he was elected assistant regional superior in Taiwan.
In 2000, he was reappointed assistant regional superior for the Taiwan Region. In 2003, he was appointed third regional assistant.
Born in New York City, he attended SS. Peter and Paul and Sacred Heart elementary schools in the Bronx. After two years at Cardinal Hayes High School, the Bronx, he entered Maryknoll. He was ordained in 1958.
He is survived by four sisters.
A Funeral Mass was offered Oct. 1 in Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Taichung by Bishop Martin Su Yao-wen of the Diocese of Taichung. Burial was in the Taichung diocesan priests’ section of Dadu Mountain Cemetery.