Mayor pays tribute to a great Cork ‘character’
He was 72.
Mr Murphy died at Marymount Hospice on Saturday night after a long battle with illness.
Cork Lord Mayor Donal Counihan led the tributes last night to the man who famously got a set of new teeth during an official visit to San Francisco in 1986.
“He truly was one of the city’s great characters,” Mr Counihan said.
“Everyone in the city knew him. He was always prepared to exchange a few words of banter with you.
“His election to city council caused murmurs but when he was there, he did represent the people of the city with dignity and courtesy.”
Born on August 6, 1935, Bernie Murphy was one of six children. His father died when he was 15 and his mother Kathleen had a nervous breakdown shortly afterwards. The family was evicted from their house in Caroline Street shortly after his father died and the children were separated.
Mr Murphy was educated at Mayfield and Peter & Paul national schools, the Model School and South Mon.
However, he wasn’t able to read or write but could sign BM — his initials.
Well-known around the city as a sandwich-board man, Mr Murphy created a storm when he won a seat as an independent on the city council in June 1985.
It had been widely rumoured that solicitors had helped to bankroll his election campaign to embarrass the city — an allegation dismissed by Mr Murphy himself.
A few months after his election, he was finally reunited with his mother whom he presumed had died. Friends had tracked her to St Raphael’s hospital in Youghal, where she was a patient.
One of the highlights of his term as city councillor was his now legendary trip to San Francisco’s 1986 St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
And on March 13, the man who once boasted that his gums “were as hard as rocks” and that he could “suck steak,” got his new set of $1,200 dentures.
At the city’s Patrick’s Day parade, Mr Murphy emerged from a DeLorean car to cheers and shouts of “Murphy, show us your teeth”.
He was presented with an honorary doctorate in humanities by Fr Patrick Leary, founder of the New College of California, a prestigious private college in the city.
Murphy also arrived at San Francisco’s city hall with a large suitcase intent on asking Mayor Diana Feinstein to fulfill a promise of $1 million to promote job creation in Cork — a promise she reportedly made during a visit to the city’s Cork 800 celebrations the previous year.
However, he was told politely that the mayor was otherwise engaged. Mr Murphy met the city’s deputy mayor Hadley Ross instead and didn’t get any cash.
