Mayor Patrick Murphy

Photo Courtesy of John McDonough

Patrick Ó. Murphy is a resident of the Sacred Heart neighborhood, and among the fifth generation of Murphys to call Lowell home.

Patrick is the son of longtime Lowell teachers Joan and Dan Murphy, and the grandson of Grace and the late William Bovitz and of the late Helen and George B. Murphy, a former Lowell city councilor and state representative. With his twin brother Daniel, he trained for several years as an amateur boxer at Ramahlo’s West End Gym on Lawrence Street. His sister, Gráinne, is a well-known Irish fiddler and attorney in New York City.  Following his sister and with his brother, Patrick graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover on a four-year scholarship.  He has worked throughout the Merrimack Valley since the age of sixteen with cousins Dan O’Connor and Joe Donlan as a laborer and now as a brick- and stonemason. Patrick has, through scholarships and his own labor, attended American University, Trinity College Dublin, and is currently pursuing a degree at Tufts University.

In the fall of 2009, Patrick won an upset to fill a City Council seat once held by his grandfather over half a century before.  Outspent by his colleagues because of his refusal to take donations, Murphy relied upon a relentless campaign style, taking his thoughtful message door to door to thousands of homes.

After being re-elected to a second term on the Council, Patrick was elected by his colleagues as the city’s youngest mayor ever, and the youngest currently serving mayor of any American city with over 100,000 residents.