Dan Murphy found his calling late in life

Dan Murphy didn't get into the real-estate business until he was nearly 40. Once he did, though, it was clear he'd found his calling.

He brought to his new profession the same attention to customer service he had learned in his previous career as a restaurant manager, said Dennis Brown, Mr. Murphy's business partner and his life partner of 32 years.

"His focus was, how could he help people fulfill their dreams?" Brown said.

Mr. Murphy, a prominent West Seattle real-estate broker and industry leader, died Nov. 25 from complications related to kidney failure. He was 60.

Mr. Murphy was managing broker at Windermere Real Estate/Fauntleroy, which does business as Murphy Brown at Windermere. He was a governor-appointed member of the state Real Estate Commission, a regulatory panel, and a former president of the Seattle-King County Association of Realtors.

He also served on the boards of the Washington Association of Realtors and National Association of Realtors.

In the weeks before his death Mr. Murphy was lobbying Congress to preserve the income-tax deduction for mortgage interest.

"Dan was never afraid to roll up his sleeves and do what needed to be done," said D'Ann Jackson, a friend and another former president of the county Realtors association.

"Dan was well-known and widely respected for his service to our association," said Russell Hokanson, the association's CEO.

Mr. Murphy was born in Aberdeen. His ancestry was Irish, Finnish and Cherokee. As a teenager he earned extra money cleaning salmon on the charter-boat docks at Westport for $1 a fish, Brown said.

He relocated to Seattle after finishing high school, then moved to California, where he joined the Navy and served as a radio man. Later he managed several restaurants in California and worked in the food-products industry.

He managed more restaurants after returning to Seattle, most notably the old Ivar's Captain's Table on Elliott Avenue West, where he had the distinction of being the last manager hired personally by legendary restaurateur Ivar Haglund.

But Mr. Murphy tired of the restaurant business, Brown said, and both thought real estate would be a fulfilling career.

They set up shop in West Seattle because of its varied housing stock — everything from starter houses to luxury homes, Brown said. The men were living in Leschi at the time, but "it wasn't long before Dan said, 'I think we should move to West Seattle — it's pretty nice over there.' "

As president of the Seattle-King County Association of Realtors in 2005, Mr. Murphy played a central role in the organization's purchase of its present office in Bellevue. The association honored him that year as its "Realtor of the Year."

Mr. Murphy was a passionate scuba diver, Brown said. Both men learned to dive in Hawaii, and "every vacation after that was all about scuba." The sport took them to Mexico, Aruba and Argentina.

Mr. Murphy also was an accomplished cook who could taste a dish in a restaurant, then go home and prepare it without a recipe.

In addition to Brown, Mr. Murphy's survivors include two daughters, Shannon Webster, of Hoquiam, and Eden Emelia Kensington Clark, of Salem, Ore.; a son, Collin Elliott Maxfield Clark, also of Salem; and two grandchildren.

A memorial service will be scheduled in the spring.

Eric Pryne: 206-464-2231 or epryne@seattletimes.com