James Edgar Murrin

Jim, as he was known to his friends, died peacefully on November 30 at age 95. He retired in 1980 as Director of East-West Trade Development with the Commerce Department. His home was in Arlington. Jim graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1949 and worked with American Express in New York and Paris before joining Commerce in 1951. During his nearly three decades at Commerce, Jim's responsibilities grew steadily and ranged widely from export control to intelligence activities to trade promotion. He travelled extensively to the Far East, Middle East, and, especially, in his later years at Commerce, to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. He received awards and commendations for his many services. James Edgar Murrin was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1923. As a small child he met Col.Charles A. Lindbergh at a local airport that also afforded kite flying space. He told Col. Lindbergh that he hoped to fly with him someday. During World War II Jim served with the Army Air Force as a flight instructor and fighter pilot in the Pacific flying from the Marianas and Iwo Jima. The latter missions against the Japanese home islands were among the war's longest fighter missions. The service was too late, however, to support a chance to fly with Col. Lindbergh. Jim learned of the war's end from a passing B-29 after taking part in his group's final mission against the island of Shikoku on VJ Day, August 15, 1945. After leaving government, Jim was active in Commerce retirement groups. Literary magazines published his short stories. Jim was a gentleman in the best sense of that old-fashioned word. His interests were wide ranging, his intelligence keen, his sense of humor wry. His friends were many. He will be missed. His wife, Virginia Dillon Murrin, died in 2013. His survivors include a niece and three nephews in Savannah.