Hidden Boca Gems: Sam Murphy Park

As spring melts into fall, even the hottest sunbathing enthusiast needs an oasis on a regular basis from Florida's unrelenting sunshine. One of the best hidden gems on Boca Grande provides an immaculate, nature-scented experience complete with comfortable benches amid an abundance of shade-providing foliage and a grand entrance leading into a striking reflecting pool provided by the Boca Grande Woman's Club. The Confederate jasmines are in bloom now, which enhances a spectacular sensory experience for parkgoers. The park, located across the street from The Temptation Restaurant, 350 Park Ave., in the heart of Boca Grande village, is a tribute to the late Samuel W. Murphy Jr. Murphy, a U.S. Marine Corps. officer during the Korean War, graduated from Harvard Law School in 1951. Ensuing career highlights included:

n key legal adviser to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, 1958-1978.

n corporate litigator at Donovan, Leisure, Newton and Irvine in New York for 30 years before becoming partner and then head of the firm;

n senior vice president and general counsel, RCA Corp., 1984-1986; and

n general counsel and a director of Gulf Oil, guiding the company through its takeover by Chevron Oil.

His clients included Walt Disney, General Electric, Mobil Oil and American Home Products, and during the 1960s and 1970s he represented major pharmaceutical companies against price-fixing charges.

He argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court and was admitted as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He also received the Thurgood Marshall Award for his pro bono representation of death-row inmates.

After his retirement he continued defending death-row inmates and was president of the Gasparilla Island Conservation and Improvement Association. Murphy died Sept. 7, 2001.