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Marine Lab Cook Receives Duke's Highest Employee Honor

The Duke Marine Lab’s head cook, Sylvester “Sly” Murray, received Duke’s highest employee honor, the Presidential Award. He was one of four Duke employees cited by President Richard H. Brodhead earlier this year and presented a plaque and a check for $1,000.

“The Presidential Awards celebrate a handful of employees whose service shows in the highest degree the qualities Duke values in all employees,” Brodhead said.

Here is Murray’s story:

While on vacation in Mexico, Dominick Brugnolotti stopped by a bank in Cozumel wearing his Duke Marine Lab t-shirt. The bank’s vice president, a Duke alumnus, spotted the t-shirt and asked, “Do you know Sly?”

Sly would be Sylvester “Sly” Murray, the head cook at Duke’s Marine Lab in Beaufort, N.C., and if it’s stretching the truth to say he’s world-famous, it is true that he’s well known for making the lives of Marine Lab employees and visitors better, one meal at a time. This year Duke recognized his contributions by conferring on him the Presidential Award. Brugnolotti, assistant director of auxiliary services on the Beaufort campus, was among those who nominated Murray for Duke’s highest award.

“He’s an institution here,” Brugnolotti said.

Murray, who has lived all his life on the eastern shore of North Carolina, said the international community of visitors at the Marine Lab has kept him there for the past 30 years.

He started work at the Marine Lab part-time while he took classes at a community college. Through interacting with the international students and researchers, he said, “All of a sudden, I was in a mixed-culture situation where I was involved with people from all over the world. I was seeing things from another point of view, experiencing how other people think and live their lives. I knew there was a chance to learn and grow from that. It made a big impact on me when I was 18.”

Murray’s first position at the lab was in housekeeping, but when the dining hall opened full-time, the head cook needed an assistant. Murray, who had worked in restaurants in high school, was offered the job.

“It was the last thing I thought I’d be doing after high school,” he said. But he was a quick study, and learned how to take over any task from the cook, who had health problems. The first time the cook wasn’t able to make it in, staff and students stopped by the dining hall, offering to help.

“I thought, ‘Nobody thinks I can do this.’ They were looking at a kid alone in the cafeteria, and they were worried about me,” Murray said. “I love challenges, so as soon as it turned into that, I snapped to it.” The lasagna dinner he fixed turned out just fine, and his culinary career was launched.

Over the years, the challenges kept coming. Murray might have only 13 people to cook for at one meal and 130 the next. At times, he has had the kitchen polished down and was on his way out the door when he received word that a tour group of 70 would arrive for dinner in 20 minutes.

“That’s one of the things I’ve always loved about my job,” he said. “I never really know how the day is going to unfold.”

Murray researches recipes for vegetarians and adjusts his baking to accommodate vegans. He has taken courses at different culinary schools and said he has learned from every chef who has passed through his kitchen. Dietary needs, culinary styles and available ingredients change continuously.

“A doctor never stops learning new things,” he said. “I approach cooking the same way. I don’t look at it as a job; I see it as taking care of people.”

One of his co-workers estimated that Murray has cooked 38,800-some-odd meals over the past 30 years. He takes it as a point of pride to cook a meal that will take the stress off students and researchers at the end of the day.

When he’s not in the kitchen, Murray is penning short stories and novels. His cookbook, Home Boy Cookbook, has sold more than 10,000 copies.

Receiving the Presidential Award won’t change the way Murray does his work. “The award is motivation to keep on doing what I do, day in and day out,” he said.

—From Duke News & Communications reports