Bravery. Sacrifice. Commitment.

That is what Nick Murphy showed and that is the legacy we are following in providing family law legal services for veterans and active duty members of the Armed Forces. As of April 19, 2023, we have opened up 235 cases for veterans and active duty military men and women, performed 10,129 hours of free legal work, and done $965,608.88 worth of free legal services for them through the law offices of Murphy & Dunn, P.C. This is addition to all of the other educational scholarships, military grants, and charitable donations undertaken through Nick’s Foundation. It is truly Nick’s bravery, sacrifice and commitment that we carry on. In this next year, we hope to surpass the $1,000,000.00 mark of free services in the six and one-half since Nick’s death.

On November 19, 2016, Red Cross Heartland Hero Nicholas J. Murphy saved the life of fellow Navy Seaman, Breona Mackoff, by pushing her out of the way of the speeding motor vehicle that took his life in a tragic accident in Pensacola, Florida. By sacrificing his own life to save hers, Nick was killed. In addition, Nick’s unselfish sacrifice of organ donation also saved numerous other families by six of his organs being donated successfully to five other gravely ill donor recipients. Nick’s legacy of sacrifice, bravery and commitment continues to inspire others today through the work of the Nicholas J. Murphy Foundation and the legal work performed by the law firm of Murphy & Dunn, P.C. To see Nick’s story, play the video below.

The purpose of the Nicholas J. Murphy Foundation is to provide free and reduced rate family law legal services to veterans and active duty members of the Armed Forces in Illinois through the law firm of Murphy & Dunn, P.C., all in honor of Nicholas James Murphy, who was killed on November 19, 2016 while serving in the United States Navy. Nick was a beloved son, brother, grandson, nephew, friend and teammate to everyone he knew and it his spirit that lives on through the works of this Foundation named in his honor.

Nick’s Foundation continues to help numerous veterans and their families from the legal services provided through the attorneys, paralegals and staff at Murphy & Dunn, P.C. Much of the growth was through the leadership of Nick’s brother, Grant Murphy, who was Executive Director of the Foundation from 2018 through 2022. Grant has now moved to Chicago and is working for the Pat Tillman Foundation, another great military organization helping veterans and their families. All of this is being done to honor Nick, but also to pay back those brave men and women of the Armed Forces that risked and sacrificed their life for ours and risked everything by joining the Armed Forces. We honor their service by the work we do for them through Nick’s foundation and the legal work done at Murphy & Dunn, P.C.

We have Two major goals at Nick's Foundation:

Foundation News

Foundation News posts have been sporadic based on what was going on at the time. These days, we are concentrating on the legal work being performed at the law firm for our veterans and their families. More will follow.

From the Murphy Families

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support. Our family, friends and the community have all been unbelievably supportive in getting the Nicholas J. Murphy Foundation financially up and running by donating their time, talent and money and supporting Nick’s Foundation. For the past six years up through June of 2022, our yearly golf outing, known as the "Fairways for the Armed Forces" was one of the premiere golf outings in Central Illinois. The 6th Annual event was held on June 5, 2023 at Mt. Hawley Country Club. Although we are no longer doing the golf outing, we continue to honor Nick and support our veterans and active duly military men and women through the reduced rate and pro bono family law legal services we are completing at Murphy & Dunn, P.C. We hope to surpass the one million dollars of legal work donated in the next year.

We are also very proud to have been a large part of Nick’s legacy at Dunlap High School with the building of the Nicholas J. Murphy Memorial Press Box, built on the varsity baseball field at Dunlap High School in honor of Nick Murphy.

All we can say is THANK YOU for the past seven years of support.

Nick Murphy was a true hero and we are very proud of him. This Murphy family photo was taken at the end of July of 2016, less than four months before Nick was killed. It was our last family photo all together. A lot has happened with our family since then, but we continue to prosper and to honor Nick Murphy and his legacy. Grant Murphy was married to his wife Maria Murphy in June 2018 and they just celebrated their five year anniversary this past summer. Alec Murphy is now engaged to Ellie Peters and they are getting married in October, 2023. Laney Murphy has been dating her long time boyfriend Peyton Easton and they continue to bless our family as a wonderful couple. Although Theresa Murphy and Ed Murphy were divorced in 2021, they continue to remain friends and are committed to being great parents to their children even as adults and to continue to proudly honor Nick Murphy through this Foundation.

 Thank you everyone for your support.

The Murphy Family

Nick's Book

Nick’s book was started by Ed Murphy after Nick’s death as a form of journaling. Although it was never finished, it is still posted here on the website because we think it may help someone having gone through or going through a similar family tragedy. If it helps one person, it is worth it. For a much more in-depth view of the journey Ed took after Nick’s death, and to hopefully help you in your journey getting through some of the grief and agony you may be going through, please go to Ed’s Facebook page and go back to November 21, 2016. He posted many posts over those first two years of that grief journey and many consider it to be inspirational and helpful on how to get through some of that grief. Ed’s Facebook Page can be accessed here.

Fairways for the Armed Forces

The Nicholas J. Murphy Foundation is proud to announce that the first six years of the "Fairways for the Armed Forces" golf outings to honor Nick Murphy and to raise money for the military legal clinic, military grants, and educational scholarships were a complete success. Over the course of these last six years since in 2017, we have raised over $275,000.00 in net proceeds. The golf outings were held at Mt. Hawley Country Club on the first or second Monday of June each year. The 2018 event was very special because Aaron Bernstein, Nick's actual heart recipient from Nick's organ donation, was the guest of honor and spoke to everyone. Nick would be very proud of everything we are doing in his honor and we are sure he is smiling down from heaven upon us.

Below is a video taken by Ed Murphy at the end of September, 2016, when Ed went to visit Nick for a long weekend getaway. It was the last time they would be together before Nick’s death. To Ed, this is one of the best 38 seconds of video he ever took.