Bathurst - Nickolas Richard Murray, 85, passed away peacefully at the Chaleur Regional Hospital on Friday May 3, 2024, after a brief illness. Born in Campbellton, he was the son of the late Leo Murray and Greta (Morrison) Murray.
Growing up Nick’s parents both held local and municipal jobs along with several small businesses. As an only child his parents included him in all aspects of their work which kindled a strong interest for business and government. This lead up to his decision later in life to pursue a Bachelor in Business and a Master’s in Public Administration from Dalhousie University.
As a youth “Nickie” as he was often called had a love and passion for Hockey. His father coached many local peewee hockey teams in Campbellton inspiring Nick to focus and develop his hockey skills and talent. The hard work paid off and he was scouted by the Montreal Canadiens. He played for the Hull-Ottawa Junior Canadien team (coached by Sam Pollock and Scottie Bowman assisting) and went on to win the Memorial cup in 1958. His teammates were Bobby Rousseau, Gilles and JC Tremblay, Bruce Gamble and Bob Boucher. You can see Nick’s name alongside his team members forever engraved at the base of the memorial cup.
Nick played in Charlotte North Carolina with John Brophy (Clippers), in Indianapolis, in New Haven and with the great Eddie Shore in Springfield Mass. Eddie Shore often encouraged Nick to further his hockey career but Nick had other interests in mind like education and travel. He continued to play Juniors in the Hague, Pembroke, Brockville, Peterborough (with the “Peterborough Petes”) and Fredericton, then on to Halifax to pursue his education while playing hockey at Dalhousie University.
He often said he considered himself not as a “hockey player” but as a “person who played Hockey” as he was always interested in the strategy and techniques of the game.
He also played in Hardy Cup hockey in Campbellton and especially enjoyed playing defence for the Campbellton Tigers and the Bathurst Papermakers.
In the 60’s and 70’s he held several managing positions at various Hotels on Paradise Island in Nassau and the Algonquin Resort in New Brunswick. He had several management positions in the Food Service industry and was also the sales manager at Bathurst Volkswagen and Devaal Motors ltd.
In 1975 he started his 23-year municipal career, beginning with the City of Campbellton as Director of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, later in Halifax as Superintendent of Recreation. In Ottawa he was the National President of the Consumer’s Association of Canada and appointed by the Mulroney government as chair member for GST Consumer information Office. He also was an active member with the (CGSB) Canadian General Standard Board over several decades.
In 1997 he was drawn to pursue a career as a university professor at several Halifax based universities including Dalhousie, Mount Saint Vincent University and Saint Mary’s University teaching various subjects from Business, Marketing, Commerce, Management, Public Administration, Political Science, Tourism and Hospitality Management. He would constantly encounter former students, and loved to ask, “Did you learn anything of use to you?” The response was “I sure did”. He loved impacting the careers of his students and hearing about their success.
In his retirement he loved to watch hockey games, meet friends and swap hockey stories at the K.C Irving Regional Arena especially when the Acadie Bathurst “Titans” where playing. He loved all things “Titan” and gave his many strong opinions and marketing advice to see a path forward for the “Titan” team to have a permanent home in Bathurst.
He will be greatly missed.
A celebration of life will be held from Elhatton’s Funeral Home Chapel at a date to be announced.
Donations in memory of Nickolas Murray may be made to the “Hockey Canada (Assist) Foundation” or a “Junior Hockey League” of your choice.
