Hugh Jerry Murrell

Hugh Jerry Murrell, M.D. died on September 6, 2025. He was born on October 20, 1937 in Tyler, Texas, to Hugh J. and Oman Murrell. He attended public schools there. He attended undergraduate education at Rice University in Houston Texas. He went to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, graduating with a M.D. in 1962. Following a rotating internship at the University of California Davis (Sacramento County Hospital), he was on active duty in the U.S. Navy attached to the U.S. Marine Corps at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Center in Bridgeport, California. After serving two years there, he spent two years in family practice in Santa Rosa, California. He began a radiology residency at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He was there for one year and transferred to the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Barnes Hospital, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Following completion of the radiology residency, he remained on staff there for one year. He then entered private practice of radiology in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a decade. He returned to academic medicine for four years at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He was recruited to head the radiation oncology division at Boone Hospital in 1984. He concurrently became head of radiation oncology at University of Missouri School Medicine and the Veterans Hospital in 1985. In 1988 Jefferson City asked him to direct radiation oncology there at the newly formed Cancer foundation. He began to add partners. The practice grew to include Bothwell Cancer Center in Sedalia. In the mid-1990s the practice – Murrell, Westgate and Bryer – merged with Hematology Associates to form Missouri Cancer Associates (MCA). He was the founding president of that group practice. MCA now has eight locations for radiation oncology in seven cities. He retired from active practice in 2007.

He was certified by the American Board of Radiology (ABR) in Radiology in 1970 and then by that Board in Radiation Oncology in 1984. He was also certified by the American Board of Nuclear Medicine in 1972. Academic appointments were at Washington University, the University of Arizona, and the University of Missouri culminating as a Clinical Professor of Radiology. He was awarded fellowship by the American Board of Radiology in the mid-1990s.

He was active in organized medicine, serving as President of the Missouri State Medical Association (MSMA) in 1995 in addition to many other committees for that association. He served on the Missouri delegation to the American Medical association for twelve years. He was chief of staff at Boone Hospital and also was a Trustee on the Boone Hospital Board of Trustees, ending as President of that body.

Awards and honors were many including Fellowship in the ABR, Doctor of the Year of the Boone County Medical Association, Distinguished Eagle Scout by the Great Rivers Council of BSA, Outstanding Missourian by the Missouri House of Representatives, and President’s Award from MSMA.

He was active locally serving on the boards of Boone Hospital Trustees, Museum of Art and Archeology, We Always Swing Jazz Series, Columbia Civic Orchestra, Primaris, the Great Rivers Council of Boy Scouts, the Community Foundation of Central Missouri, and the Columbia Rotary Club of which he was President.

He married the lovely and accomplished Beverly Robetson, M.D. in 1963. She preceded him in death in 2014. He is survived by three children: Hugh Murrell (Nancy Shikles), Heather Crane (Russell), and Hudson Murrell (Yuka) and Dragan Matic, of Serbia. He is also survived by five grandchildren: Maggie Murrell, Sunday, Amelie, and Liam Crane, and Helen Murrell. He also leaves behind his special friend, Sally Markland.

There will be a celebration of Jerry’s life in January 2026. Memorials may be made to the Boone Hospital Foundation, the Missouri Symphony Society, or to a charity of your choice.

Condolences and fond memories can be shared at www.memorialfuneralhomeandcemetery.com