Dr William Ernest Marsh Furniss

July 20, 2002|By WILLIAM SCHUBERT; Courant Staff Writer BRISTOL — Doc Furniss' life seemed impossibly full, even for a man of nine decades.

William Ernst Marsh Furniss, a physician, historian, health director, war surgeon and local icon, died Sunday. He was 90.

Furniss, who was born in Haiti and lived in Burlington, maintained an obstetrics-gynecology practice in Bristol from 1945 to 1978. He was the first director of the Bristol-Burlington health district, a position he held from July 1978 to February 1996.