J. Martin “Murph” Wolman spent his entire professional career as a newspaperman at the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, beginning in 1932 as a newsboy and retiring as publisher in 1985 at age 65 — though exact dates are sketchy.
Office lore has it that Murph was originally paid out of petty cash, and that no one has ever owned up to actually hiring him. When he returned from military service, he joined the business staff, later becoming general manager, and then publisher. Wolman was publisher of the State Journal from 1968 to 1984, and he continued to serve on the Capital Newspapers board until 2005, when he retired.
Wolman was a member and officer of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, Wisconsin Daily Newspaper League (a forerunner to WNA), Inland Daily Press Association, National Newspaper Association, American Newspaper Publishers Foundation, Associated Press and United Press International. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame and received WNA’s Distinguished Service Award in 1982. He also served a long list of Madison-area boards and civic organizations.
Wolman was the guiding spirit behind Youth Services Inc. and the Empty Stocking Club for more than six decades. He become involved with the Journal’s Empty Stocking Club even before he was put on the payroll, and remained dedicated to it throughout his years in Madison. After the death of their eldest daughter, Jane in 1967, Anne and Murph founded Youth Services Incorporated, which now runs the Empty Stocking Club.
Wolman died at age 90 on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2009 — the 66th anniversary of his wedding to Anne Paley Wolman. He had two daughters and two sons, was a grandfather of 10, and great-grandfather of seven.
