* Dr. Franklin D. Murphy, 78, former chairman and chief executive officer of the Times Mirror Co. and chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles, and University of Kansas, died yesterday. Dr. Murphy was diagnosed with lung cancer in February and died at UCLA Medical Center, a Times Mirror statement said. He was chairman and chief executive officer of Times Mirror from 1968 to 1980, and a director until 1986. Dr. Murphy was UCLA chancellor for eight years before going to Times Mirror, parent company of the The Sun and the Los Angeles Times, among other newspapers.

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