Cole seeks to unseat Blackwell

Close to 200 friends, family members, University colleagues and business associates attended a ceremony Monday morning in honor of the late Vice President for Business Services Steve Murray to dedicate Steve Murray's Way, the new thoroughfare into the soon-to-be-completed Inn at Penn. Murray's son Craig, his wife Barbara, his parents Robert and Harriet, University President Judith Rodin and Executive Vice President John Fry cut a ribbon together to dedicate the roadway, which is named after the man who served the Penn community for nearly 25 years and was intimately connected to the development of the Sansom Common retail complex. Murray passed away in April 1998 after a long battle with cancer. He was 51. This past fall, the University Board of Trustees approved the construction of Steve Murray's Way, at a cost of $6.3 million, over the site of a former parking garage deemed unsafe last summer by University and city officials. Fry said in September that it would have cost Penn at least $4 million to renovate the garage space alone. At the ceremony, Rodin noted that it was appropriate for the central roadway bridging Sansom and Chestnut streets between the graduate towers to be named after Murray, who himself was the "main artery" for organization and teamwork on the Sansom Common venture. "For years to come, this plaza is going to be a central hub," Rodin said. Fry echoed Rodin's praise, saying that Murray would be both "embarrassed and pleased" by the name of the street which Murray had conceived with his business services team prior to his passing last April. "His approach was win-win? you win and I win," Fry said of Murray's problem-solving strategy, citing the team solution to design a road that would eliminate the dilapidated garage and serve as an entryway to the Inn. Family members sat in the front chairs at Monday's dedication, listening to officials list Murray's accomplishments. "He never talked about what he did here [with us]," Robert Murray, Steve Murray's father, said. Business associates also said they benefitted from Murray's penchant for team building. Computer Connection Director Chris Bradie, a 1992 Wharton graduate, said he had known Murray as a mentor, employer and friend since he was a student at Penn. "He was able to cut across organizational barriers to do what was best," Bradie noted, adding that the new thoroughfare will serve as a "reminder" of Murray's impact on the University.