Bill Murray made his way to Michigan this weekend, as he was invited to deliver the final commencement address at Siena Heights University in Adrian.
The 105-year-old institution — which was founded as St. Joseph College, changed its name to Siena Heights College in 1939, then Siena Heights University in 1998 — announced earlier this year that the 2025-26 school year would be its last, citing “shifts in demographics, declining enrollment and rising costs” as the reason for the closure.
Murray has ties to Adrian — his sister Nancy Murray lives there and is part of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, the Catholic congregation that founded the institution in 1919 — and during his speech, the actor referenced the small, close-knit community at Siena Heights.
“I asked a young girl who happens to be my relative, my family, who has attended Siena for the last couple of years, ‘What should I know? What do I need to know? Give me some dirt on this place,'” Murray said, according to a clip from his speech seen online. “She said, ‘OK, here it is. It’s really just family. That’s all it is. Everybody knows everybody. Everybody says hi to everybody.'”
In addition to delivering the commencement speech, the “Ghostbusters” and “Groundhog Day” was spotted around Adrian on Saturday.
He was at Tip Top Restaurant with his sister and posed for a picture with the staff, he stopped in at Clark’s Cuts to get a haircut, and Saturday night he was seen at a production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Croswell Opera House.
Over the decades the Chicago native, 75, has cultivated a mercurial image for himself, and is known for his non-Hollywood persona and man-of-the-people lifestyle.
agraham@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: What was Bill Murray doing in Adrian, Michigan, this weekend?
Reporting by Adam Graham, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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