PERU — A funeral Mass was offered at St. Bede Abbey Church here on Nov. 5 for Father James M. Murray, OSB, a monk who entered the Benedictine community as a widower at age 59 after a high-profile career in Washington, D.C., and raising four children.

Father James, who taught courses on marriage to St. Bede Academy seniors and for two decades served as Director of Oblates for St. Bede Abbey, died in the Abbey infirmary Oct. 31, 2011, after a long struggle with cancer. He was 85.

Abbot Philip Davey, OSB, was principal celebrant of the funeral Mass. Burial was in St. Bede Cemetery.

Born Oct. 27, 1926, in Schenectady, N.Y., to Michael and Beatrice (Audet) Murray, he was graduated from Mont Pleasant High School in Schenectady in 1944. After serving in the U.S. Army as a personnel clerk in Europe, he earned a bachelor’s degree in literature from Union College in 1950.

Father James’ early career was in banking. He then held administrative positions in personnel for several governmental offices in Washington, D.C.

In 1969, he was named personnel director of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department, the first civilian to hold the post. In an era of high racial tensions, he greatly increased the number of African-American and other minority members to the force.

Five years later he was named evaluation manager of the U.S. Civil Service Commission, retiring in 1979.

He married Michele Freedman in 1955. They are the parents of four children. After Mrs. Murray’s death in 1974, he raised the children — then ranging in age from 18 to 8 — as a single father.

In 1985, he entered the Benedictine community at St. Bede, professing first vows on Jan. 1, 1987. He began studies for the priesthood in 1989 at Saint Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana, from which he received master of arts and master of divinity degrees in 1993.

Father James was ordained to the priesthood on June 5, 1993, in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria. In addition to his other duties at St. Bede Abbey and Academy, he was a frequent retreat master and served as a confessor and spiritual director for area clergy and laity.

He is survived by his four children, David of St. Louis, Mo., Jonathan of Shaker Heights, Ohio, Sarah of Alameda, Calif., and Matthew of New York City, N.Y; four grandchildren, and his monastic confreres.

Much of Father James’ life story is recounted in a 1999 memoir by his son Matthew, a senior editor at the Wall Street Journal, titled “The Father and the Son.”