Former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy just keeps popping up at podiums - to talk about the Peace Corps



In February, shortly after leaving office, he was a featured speaker at Carnegie Mellon University, where he detailed the success of a variety of Pittsburgh redevelopment projects completed during his tenure. Thomas Murphy, Jr., former Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh, PA , served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Paraguay in the 1970's.

Former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy just keeps popping up at podiums - to talk about the Peace Corps

Peace Corps talk to include former mayor

By Debra Erdley
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, March 20, 2006

Former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy just keeps popping up at podiums.

Murphy, who served with the Peace Corps in Paraguay in the 1970s, is among four Peace Corps alumni scheduled to participate in a panel discussion from 6 to 7 p.m. today at Posvar Hall at the University of Pittsburgh on the 45th anniversary of the formation of the Peace Corps.

Ten days ago, Murphy was in Tampa, Fla., as featured speaker at Tampa's 10th annual Downtown Development Forum.

The three-term mayor, who faced frequent criticism on Grant Street for pursuing his vision of redevelopment as the city sank into fiscal insolvency, apparently is thriving on the speaking circuit.


Shortly before leaving office in November, Murphy headed to New Orleans, where news accounts had him advising municipal leaders there on the recovery of their hurricane-soaked city in a project sponsored by the Urban Land Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Murphy now advises.

In February, shortly after leaving office, he was a featured speaker at Carnegie Mellon University, where he detailed the success of a variety of Pittsburgh redevelopment projects completed during his tenure.

Tonight's panel will take a slightly different tack, with Murphy joining former Peace Corps volunteers Melissa Reed, director of the Pennsylvania Governor's School for International Studies; Jeff Herzog, executive director of Rodef Shalom Congregation; and Robert Barker, a Duquesne University law professor. Their panel discussion is titled "Giving Back at Home: 45 years of Peace Corps."

The event is open to the public.

Debra Erdley can be reached at derdley@tribweb.com or 412-320-7996.

When this story was posted in March 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

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Paid Vacations in the Third World? Retired diplomat Peter Rice has written a letter to the Wall Street Journal stating that Peace Corps "is really just a U.S. government program for paid vacations in the Third World." Director Vasquez has responded that "the small stipend volunteers receive during their two years of service is more than returned in the understanding fostered in communities throughout the world and here at home." What do RPCVs think?

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Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.

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