Murray V. Johnston (1946 & 1947)

Murray Johnston, first president of the Highland Park Community Club, is remembered as a caring, unselfish man. He was interested in everybody, and would rather hear about other people than talk about himself. You could tell Johnston a fact about yourself, not see him for years, and he would remember everything you told him. He cultivated an attitude of being open to criticism and feedback that helped the community club grow by tenfold in its first year. Johnston and his family moved to Highland Park in 1940 after finishing nine years of night classes, earning a business administration degree at the University of Pittsburgh. He came up with the idea of a community club simply to help his wife, who had her hands full with twin boys and a daughter. Johnston became Vice President in charge of credit for Gulf Oil. When the company moved his department to Houston around 1960, he tried it out but soon took early retirement and returned to the family's home on Wellesley Road. A busy man who was always making things happen, Johnston worked tirelessly in fundraising for Pitt's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, receiving an award and medal on a visit from the dean of GSPIA while hospitalized. He is credited with starting a Block Watch program that was used as a model for block watches throughout the country. He was chairman of fundraising for the March of Dimes and was an elder in the East Liberty Presbyterian Church .