Food chemist.
Born at Minnedosa on 23 June 1936 to Mary Michasiw (1913-1989) and Glen Donald Murray (1905-1993), he grew up in the company of cousins who played an important role in his younger years and whose friendships lasted throughout his life. His aunt and uncle were instrumental in providing him the opportunity to continue his education after high school. He married Eileen Margaret McKee in 1958 and they went on to have two children.
In 1962, he graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Masters in Science degree. Following that, while living and working in London, Ontario, he continued his education and in 1970 received a PhD in Biochemistry from Western University. This set the foundation for a career in food microbiology. Over the years, he worked in research and development and taught food science at the university level. He was active in many national and international scientific associations, giving him the opportunity to travel extensively, and was an elected member of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology.
In the early 1970s, he worked at General Foods, where he was part of several research teams patenting their discoveries. A primary interest for him was plant proteins. As so often happens in the science lab, it was an “accident” that set him on a unique journey, when one of his technicians tried washing a protein solution down the drain using tap water. She was concerned that the solution was turning cloudy, precipitating out of solution, and she was not sure that was a good thing. From this observation, the process that Murray, with others, developed and patented in 1991 for creating protein isolates from canola (salting in/salting out) led to these plant-based proteins being functional as healthful dietary supplements. This was especially relevant to a growing world population, evolving socio-demographics, and society’s interest in nutrition and dietary changes. Burcon Nutrascience took up his discovery to lead the way in developing practical applications.
He served for a time as head of the Food Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Manitoba, where his food industry experience brought real world knowledge to academia, and where his research and contributions to the field were highly valued, not only by colleagues, but also by businesses and organizations connected to food chemistry. He was a mentor to research associates and students. In addition to his academic life, he was also very interested in seeing his home province of Manitoba further develop its food industry, serving as a consultant to several food companies, giving them technical advice and direction.
In 1994, he moved to Guelph, Ontario to establish the Guelph Food Technology Centre, a research laboratory and food product testing facility of which he was especially proud.
Retiring in 1997 allowed him time to pursue other interests, which included reading history books (usually with a dog or three at his feet), traveling with his wife, and spending time with his family. He continued to enjoy consulting for food development companies
as well as lecturing as an adjunct professor in the Food Science Department at the University of Guelph. He loved food science and referred to it as “my golf game.” A voracious reader and always curious, he would often share tidbits of information he had discovered with his family, usually starting the sentence with, “Here’s your piece of useless information for the day.”
He died at Guelph, Ontario on 1 August 2024.
Obituary, Guelph Today, 22 August 2024.
Glen Donald Murray, FindAGrave.
“Extracting the highest value,” Impact Report, Food Development Centre, 2020.
International Academy of Food Science and Technology website.
We thank James Robert Logie, Ronald W. Martens, and Gary B. Nickel for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 19 May 2025
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