Rex Murphy, a wise and considerate Canadian, died on Thursday, May 9, 2024. He passed away the day after his column on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s response to the October 7 Hamas atrocities ran on the National Post’s print front page.
He was an amazing orator and writer who championed the interests of common Canadians. Over the course of his several decades of work, Rex’s keen wit and wisdom shaped the perspectives of many Canadians.
Family members reported that Murphy passed away at the age of 77 following a fight with cancer.
Who Is Rex Murphy
He was the second of five children born in Carbonear, Newfoundland in 1947, before the province had even gained its independence. However, he was raised in the Freshwater community, which is located ten minutes away from the highway. After skipping two grades and eventually traveling to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar in 1968, he eventually returned home and settled into a media career. He had abandoned his Master of English degree because of the incessant need for footnotes citing poetry from the 17th century.
“I am one of the millions of Canadians who always enjoyed watching his commentaries and reading his columns to get his unique take on politics and life.”
After his Globe and Mail column was canceled, he joined the National Post in 2010. Following Rex Murphy’s arrival, a reader wrote in the Post’s letters to the editor, “Now that Rex Murphy has moved to the National Post, I am left with absolutely no recourse but to cancel my subscription… to The Globe.”
Rex was a Rhodes scholar, capable of matching brains with any intellectual, but he was always far happier and more at ease with ordinary Canadians, no matter where they were. Even with his sharp and witty writing, you could always tell that the words came from a genuine love of Canada and its people. This country is poorer for his absence,” stated Kevin Libin, a longtime Murphy’s editor and executive editor of politics at Postmedia.
He had a huge impact on Canadian media and will always be remembered as such. His family is in our thoughts and prayers.
