Bendigo chef and Richmond Tigers footy fan Paul Murphy remembered as ‘life of the party’ by sister Peta

A passionate Richmond Tigers supporter and talented chef has been remembered by his sister as the “life of the party” and a jokester after he tragically died from a stroke.

Bendigo man Paul Murphy suffered from a stroke on April 4, where he was taken to hospital and died on April 7. Picture: Supplied

The sister of a talented chef and Bendigo football fan has remembered her younger brother as “the life of the party” after he suddenly died from a stroke.

Paul Murphy was found unconscious in his home and taken to hospital, where he had suffered from an acute catastrophic basilar infarction on April 4.

The 37-year-old died three days later, just two days before his 38th birthday.

Sister Peta Murphy, 40, told the Herald Sun after her brother didn’t turn up for work last Thursday, his workmates went over to his house.

“They ended up calling the police to do a welfare check, and they broke in and found Paul unconscious,” Ms Murphy said.

Bendigo man Paul Murphy was a Richmond Tigers fan and loved fishing. Picture: Supplied

“He was still breathing at the time, the hospital did all the tests and they found out he had a stroke and there was nothing they could do — there was already too much damage.”

Ms Murphy said Paul was a chef at Tysons Reef Hotel in Bendigo and used to come over and make his homemade gnocchi and dumplings from scratch for her family.

She said he loved fishing and people couldn’t help but smile when they were around him.

“He was a passionate Richmond Tigers supporter — he lived and breathed the Richmond Tigers,” Ms Murphy said.

“Dusty was his idol.”

Paul Murphy and his older sister Peta Murphy, who said her brother was the “life of the party”. Picture: Supplied

Ms Murphy said she had many fond memories with her brother, and one in particular was dying his hair and eyebrows when they were younger.

“Me and Paul are both redheads — and he’s like, ‘can you dye my hair for me’,” she said.

“So we dyed his hair black, but then once we dyed it, his eyebrows were still bright red.

“So then we ended up dying his eyebrows black as well — so he looked like he had two big black caterpillars on his eyes — it took ages to grow out and fade out, he just looked ridiculous.”

Ms Murphy also shared a more recent memory of Paul.

Paul with his nieces Mia and Lacey and his younger brothers Ethan and Asha. Picture: Supplied

“So I’ve got two children — and we barrack for Hawthorn and my girls have been asking me that they want to change to Richmond and I said ‘OK, fine’,” she said.

“So my oldest one, Mia, bought a Richmond jersey, put it on and last Tuesday I took a photo of her and sent it to my brother and I go, ‘she’s finally been converted’ and his response was, ‘not converted, upgraded’.

“And then he wrote, ‘this has now been screenshotted and documented as the day I officially became Mia’s uncle’.”

Ms Murphy said Paul had a lot of friends and everyone had a funny story about him.

“He was just a jokester — the life of the party, just a funny guy,” she said.

Paul and his father Wayne Murphy. Picture: Supplied

“He’s got two half-brothers that are 14 and 16 and they look up to him like he’s a superhero.”

Ms Murphy and her father Wayne have organised a GoFundMe page — which has raised almost $7000 — to help the family with funeral expenses.

Ms Murphy wrote in the fundraiser her family had decided to donate Paul’s organs as they knew Paul would love to save other lives, so others could live their lives to the fullest like he did.