The Good Kind Of Murphy's Law

William Stanislaus Murphy, Class of 1885, bought himself a place in Harvard fundraising lore when he left a $94,618 bequest in 1916 for "the establishment of one or more scholarships for the collegiate education of any young man or men named 'Murphy' who in the judgement of the faculty should prove deserving of this kind of encouragement."

He was the first Murphy to graduate from the College, and as he never married, he had no off-spring named Murphy whom he hoped to benefit. An editorial in the Harvard Alumni Bulletin of January 19, 1916, read: "It was simply that he believed in the college, knew what it had meant in the life of one man bearing his name, and wished it to mean the same in the life of other Murphys. It was a fine, impersonal, yet tribal wish and is worthy of all honor."

Source: the Official Register of Harvard University, volume LXVI, No. 11