The Florida International University Alumni Association will be honoring Gordon Murray, Jr., Esq. ’08 with the Charles E. Perry Young Alumni Visionary Award on Saturday, March 28, 2015 during FIU’s fourteenth annual Torch Awards Gala. This award is presented to an alumnus/a who has made great strides in the early stages of his/her career.
As the first black attorney ever hired by the Florida Justice Association (FJA), Murray, Jr. made his mark on history at an incredibly young age. Murray, Jr. has garnered the respect of his peers at the FJA, an association dedicated to Floridians and their plaintiff lawyers, by setting them on a course focused on dealing with issues of diversity and inclusion. He singlehandedly formed the Membership Diversity Committee and created and hosted the FJA’s Inaugural Diversity Reception that was attended by over 200 lawyers, politicians and judges. He was also responsible for creating the inaugural “Diversity Week at the Capitol” which featured members from all over the state gathered to lobby on behalf of important issues. At FIU he was a President’s Scholar, two-time Homecoming King and an Excellence in Civic Engagement Medallion of Distinction recipient. He earned his juris doctor from Florida State University where he was a Mason Ladd Scholar and a Calvin Patterson Scholar and was bestowed the title Chief Justice Emeritus.
His tenacious work ethic, compassion for others and astuteness of the law led to his being named the youngest fellow in the Inaugural Florida Bar Leadership Academy with a raving recommendation from the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court. In addition, he is on the Board of Directors for the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, is the youngest member to be accepted into Leadership Tallahassee and was recently selected as one of FSU’s “Thirty under 30.” Outside of the legal world, Murray Jr. is a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and serves as president of the Innovative Community Engagement Foundation.
This year, the FIU Alumni Association will be hosting the prestigious gala at the luxurious Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel, located on 4441 Collins Avenue in Miami, Fla.
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About FIU:
Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offer more than 180 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida’s anchor institutions, FIU contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
About the FIU Alumni Association:
The Florida International University Alumni Associationis a membership-based organization with over 20,000 dues paying members governed by a volunteer board of directors and currently serves a total alumni base of over 200,000, represented in every state and in more than 30 countries around the world. The mission is to serve the community of FIU alumni, students, family and friends by providing lifelong connections to FIU. The organization strives to provide opportunities to support FIU’s key strategic initiatives, which includes the revitalization and expansion of financial resources, achieving academic excellence, enhancing research and creative initiatives, and engaging the community of FIU. For more information about the FIU Alumni Association, visit FIUalumni.com.