Mark Murphy, veteran Orange County politician, dies at 67

Mark Murphy was first elected mayor of Orange in 2000, then went on to serve two more terms. Named Orange’s Citizen of the Year in 2010, Murphy was a lifelong resident of the city, which he described on a Facebook post as “the best place to live, work and raise a family.” An account manager for Hewlett-Packard for 33 years until he retired in 2022, Murphy juggled his responsibilities to his clients alongside his duty to the city. At a time when no-growth and slow-growth initiatives helped shaped politics in Orange County, Murphy was able to walk the line between meeting residents’ demands for more urban parks and the growing need for housing. A graduate of USC, Murphy was named to the city’s Planning Commission in 1990, and three years later, he was elected to the Orange City Council, a position he held three times over nearly three decades. In 1998, he was Orange County’s “Local Elected Official of the Year.” He served on the Orange County Transportation Authority board in 2017 and was named OCTA chairman in 2022.