December 29th, 2022 – 3:50 PM

Staff Reports –

Judge Harold Loyd Murphy has died. His family reported that he passed away peacefully on the morning of December 28th. He was 95 years old.

Born in the small community of Felton, Georgia shortly before the Great Depression, Judge Murphy was the son of James Loyd Murphy, a farmer and rural mail carrier, and Gladys McBrayer Murphy, a schoolteacher, and principal. He attended West Georgia College – and following an intervening period of service in the United States Navy during the closing years of World War II – resumed his studies at the University of Mississippi and the University of Georgia School of Law. A 1949 graduate of the law school, his classmates included Carl Edward Sanders, the future governor of Georgia, and Thomas Bailey Murphy, his cousin and the future speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives.

 He originally studied law with the goal of joining the FBI but did not satisfy the minimum age requirement when he received his degree. Judge Murphy returned to his home of Haralson County, Georgia to practice law, and in 1950, he was elected to the Georgia House – at the time, the youngest member – and served five consecutive terms, running for reelection without opposition. He stepped down from politics in 1961 to focus on practicing law.

In 1971, Judge Murphy was appointed by Governor Jimmy Carter to the Superior Court for the Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit, and following his election in 1976, President Carter nominated Judge Murphy to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Judge Murphy was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 28, 1977, and presided over his first case the very next week. For 45 years, Judge Murphy served his country on the federal bench.

You can read Judge Murphy’s Obituary at the link here: https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/26764010/judge-harold-murphy/tallapoosa/georgia/miller-fh-ga