Pioneering Engineer Remembers URI in Estate
Alexandra Dobrolet Murray ’39, one of four children of Russian immigrants, not only liked math, she excelled at it. So it was only natural for her to pursue engineering at Rhode Island State College. Her brother Michael Dobrolet ’41 followed in her footsteps two years later.
Alexandra flourished academically, becoming one of the first women to graduate with a mechanical engineering degree. She earned her diploma in 1939, the same year that her future husband, Wilbur Nevin Murray ’39, graduated with a biology degree. Although the couple had no children, they doted on their nephews and nieces.
Wilbur, who died in 1976, was a member of Rhode Island Hospital’s pioneering Cardiac Surgical Team. Alexandra was an engineer who established manufacturing procedures at Fulford Manufacturing Co. She retired in 1993 after spending 45 years with the company. She died in 2005.
“She was astute, pioneering, and proud of her URI education,” says John J. Finan Jr. of the Finan & Grourke law firm in Pawtucket who served as her personal attorney for 20 years and was co-executor of her estate.
She left a portion of her estate to the University “for a particular major project, and, if possible, a building or a wing of a building for the College of Engineering.” The money is being held in trust for the life of her nephew Michael Dobrolet Jr., who will benefit from the trust’s interest. Upon his death, the principal will come to URI.
“She was very smart and worked hard,” said her nephew in a phone conversation from his home in Vancleave, Miss., recalling how he used to go fishing with his aunt when he was a child. “I spent 29 years in the Navy riding nuclear submarines, and she was one of the few outsiders who knew what I was talking about when we discussed steam turbines and heat transfer through different mediums.”
“The College of Engineering is proud of the successful careers of all of its alumni and grateful for the generous philanthropic consideration Alexandra Dobrolet Murray made in her estate plans,” commented Interim Dean Raymond Wright.
Office of Planned Giving, ALUMNI CENTER, 73 Upper College Road, Kingston, RI 02881-2004 Phone: 401-874-2296 or 401-874-5569• PAUL WITHAM: PWITHAM@ADVANCE.URI.EDU
