Alexander Howison Murray Jr.

Alexander Howison Murray Jr. (1907–1993), known as Sandy Murray, was a two-time mayor of Placerville, California and three-time president of the county's chamber of commerce, who championed regional development, including the building of U.S. Route 50 in California (US 50) and was a regular page-one name in the Placerville Mountain Democrat.

His parents were Scottish-American Alexander Howison Murray, Sr., and Spanish-Irish-American Katharine da la Ossa Kevane.

In 1934, he moved to his wife's hometown of Placerville, where they bought and ran Murray's stationery store (a landmark business founded by J.C. O'Donnell as a tobacco shop in 1888) at 311 Main Street until 1949.

In June 1949, they sold the stationery store to Edward H. Durbin, following Murray's purchase of the El Dorado Distributing company from George Yeager.

[5] From 1949 until retirement, he operated El Dorado Distributing, a beverage wholesaling business that introduced into northeastern California and western Nevada the wines of Charles Krug, Robert Mondavi, Paul Masson, and Ernest and Julio Gallo.

[28] In the late 1940s, Murray led town officials in a successfully campaign to have US 50 constructed through Placerville, which the State of California completed in 1953.

"[39] In another letter dated June 8, 1987, he called on fellow citizens to rally support for a South Fork American River (SOFAR) project.

"He was a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West and all his life remained interested in American history, particularly that of California's and its transformation with the discovery of oil and the influx of new residents during and after World War II.

[55][56] Murray converted from Presbyterianism to Roman Catholicism and spent his last active years as an elder in St. Patrick's Catholic parish of Placerville.