Commodore Murray entered the Royal Canadian Navy in 1955, first attending Royal Roads Military College and then RMC. He graduated from McGill University in 1960 with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering.
After serving in HMCS Saguenay, he attended the U.S. Naval Submarine School followed by service in HMCS Grilse, Canada's only submarine (At that time anyone serving in submarines was considered very odd at best, more usually quite mad!).
After six months as a design engineer at Chalk River Nuclear Establishment, he was attached to the Royal Navy Dockyard in Chatham, England building O Class submarines, and then served in HMCS Onondaga as Engineer and Operations Officer.
In 1968 Commodore Murray attended the University of Toronto for graduate studies in Operations Research, and was then seconded for three years to the Defence Research Board as a Defence Scientist.
After attending Staff College in 1972/73 he rejoined the First Canadian Submarine Squadron, followed by appointments as Base Halifax Technical Services Officer, Squadron Engineer of the Fifth Destroyer Squadron, and Commander of the Naval Engineering School. He returned to NDHQ in 1980 to take charge of the Program Evaluation of the DND Research and Development program, and then attended the National Defence College.
After three years as Commanding Officer of the West Coast Dockyard and a posting as Director General Management Services in NDHQ, Commodore Murray was appointed Commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada, from which he retired in 1991.
After retiring, Commodore Murray obtained a Master of Business Administration degree from Queen’s University, and he taught in the Faculty of Business Administration at RMC for nine years.
His community service has included: Past member of the Boards of the Navy League (Kingston), the Hotel Dieu Hospital, the Jeanne Mance Foundation, University Hospitals Kingston Foundation, the Kingston United Way, and the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires (Eastern Ontario) and National Board; Past President of the Kingston Branch and member of the National Executive Committee of the RMC Ex Cadet Club; and is currently Chair of the RMC Heritage and Museum Committee.