Preston Valentine McMurry Jr., 86, of Phoenix, Arizona, peacefully passed away at home on May 31, 2023, of natural causes.
Preston was born in Sheboygan, WI, on September 16, 1936, to Katherine (Knauf) and Preston V. McMurry Sr. Preston was a star halfback at St. Bernard School and Mt. Lebanon High School, in Pennsylvania, where he would not have graduated if not for the tutoring of his sweetheart Heather Lohrentz. Preston was dyslexic, which he made up for by sheer effort. He spent his summers back in Wisconsin, working on the Schneider Farm outside Kiel. Roger Schneider was Preston’s lifelong friend.
A history buff, Preston was recruited to the United States Naval Academy, but his Mom was wooed by legendary football Coach Woody Hayes, and so Preston ended up at Ohio State. Coach Hayes’s wife Anne steered Preston into social work. After winning a national title in 1957, Preston graduated in 1960. Preston’s Rose Bowl ring was his prized possession.
Preston married Dorothy McKee in 1961, and together they had children Preston III, Christopher and Katy. Even after they went their separate ways, Preston sent Mother’s Day flowers to Dot for 50 years.
Preston spent the first half of his career in public relations, marketing and fundraising, usually for hospitals and churches. In the early 1970s, he worked for St. Francis Hospital Foundation, co-founded the Communique’ ad agency and later in the decade moved west to work for Little Company of Mary Hospital and Teletronics, a medical telecommunication pioneer.
Preston married Donna Marinello in 1976. Donna’s early childhood in Italy provided the impetus for Preston’s mission in life: preventing child abuse & domestic violence. In 1992, Preston founded Theresa’s Fund, a 501(c)3 non-profit charity, which helped raise over $40 million for deserving organizations. Preston later helped launch DomesticShelters.org, which is one of the most visited domestic violence websites in the world. In the final years before his passing, Preston wrote “Hello, Goodbye” about his & Donna’s relationship.
A serial entrepreneur, in 1989 Preston bought the magazine Vim & Vigor from his employer, turning it into McMurry, Inc. Preston and Christopher grew McMurry, Inc. from four employees to 182. Preston would give $100 to any employee who could recite the company’s mission statement. McMurry, Inc. was chosen as one of the 10 Best Places to Work in the U.S. eight years in a row.
Preston had been living with a broken neck since his college football days. After finally getting it fixed in 1996, Preston was nursed during his recovery by Yvonne Anderson, who became his third wife two years later. Despite their later divorce, Yvonne continued to love & support Preston during his decades of subsequent surgeries.
As a young adult, Preston’s hobbies were fishing, canoeing and sailing. Decades later, old timers in Kiel still remembered the kid who tumbled over the Rockville Dam. Preston hoped to one day retrace Canada’s Northwest Passage. Trips to northern Manitoba, the Apostle Islands, Peshtigo and Kickapoo Rivers are treasured family memories. Later, Preston’s interests became all things Italian.
Preston was predeceased by his father, mother, older sister Mary and second wife Donna. Preston is survived by his younger sister Ann, first wife Dot, and third wife Yvonne; sons Preston III (Bernie) and Christopher (Bobbi), and daughter Katy; grandsons Jason (Jenn), Colin LaBerge (Angela), Matthew (Tyla) and William; and great-grandchildren Lorelei and Aiden; the many employees of McMurry, Inc., whom he loved; mentee Rory Nicol; his two angels, personal assistant Barb Frandsen and caregiver Renee Paul; and the many abused women & children whose survival stories he directly impacted.
Services will be held in early October. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to DomesticShelters.org.
