Muray A. Friedman's Obituary
Obituary for Muray A. Friedman (Ray)
Muray A. Friedman, 82, of Hollywood, Florida, passed away peacefully in his sleep on May 28, 2019. He was the loving father of Judi Friedman and David (MaryBeth) Friedman, beloved of Yolanda Ortiz (his Yoly), father-figure to Yoly’s daughters Francine, Melanie, Valerie, and Derly, dear brother of Helene Genser, loving uncle of Holly Genser, cherished grampa Ray-Ray of Abraham, Morgan and Yoly’s grandchildren Isabella, Nicole, and James, best friend to Buddy, and both mentor and friend to so many.
Muray spent his career in Rhode Island helping children who suffered from abuse and neglect. He fought for them in every way he could, including by blowing the whistle on abuse and neglect at the Children Center, the very institution that was supposed to be taking care of their charges. After helping to get the facility where he worked shut down, he became an investigator and ultimately a supervisor at the Rhode Island Department for Children and Their Families, helping to create innovative approaches to investigating child abuse and setting high standards of accountability for himself and those who worked for him.
After retirement, he continued those efforts by volunteering with Stand Up For Kids, helping homeless and street kids find their paths. He spent much of his life finding other ways to use his knowledge and wisdom to help others. To many of them, he was Ray, who would counsel young and old at Shennanigans, or wherever he crossed their paths. To all of us, he was someone who encouraged and pushed us to become more than we thought we could be, and helped us believe that it was possible.
All along, he pursued his passions of gardening, photography, antiques, stocks, driving too fast, fishing, canoeing, and kayaking.
His garden in Rhode Island was legendary, filling almost every open space in the back yard, along with beautiful flowers in the front yard. There were so many fruits and vegetables that he had trouble giving away all the extras, which led to tipsy squirrels eating unintentionally fermented apricots and Judi and David covered in tomato guts from their occasional rotten tomato battles.
His photography was beautiful and artistic. His photos fill his walls and those of many others. He loved experimenting, including with software to enhance the images into their own kind of artwork, and printing on a variety of medium.
Muray was also a poet, having created a binder full of his thoughts, feelings and dreams. His favorite book was The Book Thief, which he loved for the beautiful writing, the story of a young girl, Liselle, and Max, a Jewish fist-fighter, during the Holocaust, and the narrator—Death, who collected souls and saw colors before anything else, the full spectrum representing each part of us, noble and not. If you have not read it, I know he would like you to.
Time and again, Death began to approach, but Muray was not ready. Prostate cancer could not take him. Neither could a shattered hip. Leukemia tried very hard, more than once, but ultimately failed. Perhaps, like Liselle, Death found that Muray distracted him as he worked, so kept coming back, just to watch and experience the life that was Muray… Ray. In the end, after a difficult last mile on his journey, Muray was ready to be collected and his full spectrum revealed.
Muray settled in a home with a view of one of Florida’s beautiful canals. Thankfully, that is where he was able to pass, just feet from the beautiful gardens he created, the canal where he helped teach Abe, Morgan and many in Yoly’s family to fish and kayak; where wildlife, from manatees to herons, ducks and iguana regularly brought him joy; and where he shared the last years of his life with all those he loved and cherished.
We all miss him so much and are deeply thankful to have had our time with him.
In lieu of flowers, please help support the Miami chapter of Stand Up For Kids in his memory:
http://www.standupforkids.org/ (donation page—https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/standupforkid)
For service information please email: [email protected])
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