Dick Murphy, mayor of San Diego from 2000 to 2005, graduated from the University of Illinois and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a J.D. from Stanford University. After serving as a U.S. Army officer in the Pentagon and the White House, he became an attorney in San Diego. He was on the San Diego City Council from 1981 to 1985. In 1985 he was appointed a San Diego Municipal Court Judge and elevated to the San Diego Superior Court in 1989.

He was elected the 33rd mayor of the City of San Diego in a come-from-behind election in November 2000 and reelected in 2004. His accomplishments include creating San Diego’s first ethics commission and building a new downtown ballpark for the San Diego Padres baseball team. In February 2005, Murphy chose to resign as mayor amidst the chaos of the pension fund crisis that affected city’s across the nation.