Consider: He built a museum of "multipartisan" political memorabilia at his Tanner Street office, where a button from Andrew Jackson's 1824 campaign highlights the collection he's been amassing for nearly 50 years.
An internationally respected expert on public and private sector ethics, Murphy funded the Center for Government Compliance and Ethics, a research and professional development program that opened in January at Rutgers-Camden.
Compliance and ethics, he says, "is a field where you can do well by doing good."
And in his spare time, he founded Friends of the Indian King Tavern Museum; chaired the tourism committee of the Haddonfield Business and Professional Association; and helped the Junior Women's Club of the Haddon Fortnightly renovate the Mountwell playground.
"One reason I like this town," the 63-year-old Chicago native says, "is that people are willing to go out and actually do things."
A compact man with two grown children and one grandson, Murphy grew up in Philadelphia and Monroe Township, Gloucester County. He earned his law degree at the University of Pennsylvania, and has lived and worked in Haddonfield since 1993.
These days, he's part of the borough's connective tissue - a low-key yet high-energy force in community life. He's someone who makes things happen; he founded Dance Haddonfield "because I wanted somewhere to dance on Sunday nights."
Murphy's contributions are somewhat under the radar, notes David Hunter, president of a Haddonfield-based marketing and media company called the Gumnut Group.
"When he was named citizen of the year in 2010, there were people who said, 'Joe who?' He's not a high-profile guy," Hunter says. "But he's made an extraordinary contribution to the town."
"Joe understands how small towns work," Hunter adds. "He knows how to stir things up a bit."
