After spending more than 25 years on the “color side” of the plastics world, Michael Murphy joined Lone Star Chemical in November of 2020 as a resin rookie. “Murf” found new avenues for channeling his talents and Lone Star found a top hand.

“In my years on the color side of the plastics business, I sold for companies such as Clariant, Mesa, Chroma, etc.,” Murf says. “During that time I worked with major OEMs such as 3M, Kawasaki, Arctic Cat, and others to help develop color palettes for various new product launches. I found this to be very challenging, as color can be subjective and at times it was difficult to get everyone in the room to approve the color. I consider myself ‘technically dangerous’ when it comes to color but if any Lone Star customers are having color problems please feel free to contact me and I will be happy to see if I can solve them.”

Murf likes to spend his free time with his family, as well as watching sports and working on – and going cruising in – his 1937 Terraplane Coupe.

“I have been married to my wife for 40 years and live in Oakdale, Minnesota,” he says. “We have a son who is married and has two boys, ages 8 and 5, that keep us all busy. I have lived my whole life in Minnesota and although the winters can be brutal, the state has a lot to offer by way of lakes, parks, and recreational activities such as boating, fishing, snowmobiling, etc.”

Murf earned a Bachelors Degree in Sociology/Criminal Justice from St. Thomas College. But, as he says, “I got my real education bartending and bouncing in bars during the ’80s. What I found is that you can learn more about people in a bar from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. than you can from any book! As far as having any kind of philosophy, my father used to say:

‘The only thing we know about life is that we won’t get out alive so have fun while you are here!’”