Ellwood Harrar Furst ’39

Woody died of pneumonia on June 30, 2002, at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park, Pa. From 1947 until he retired in 1979, he was a salesman and then sales manager for the Pennsylvania Railroad and its successors in the coal department, handling accounts for coal companies that used the railroads to transport their product. After he retired, he was a photographer for the Swarthmorean, a weekly newspaper, developing photos in his own darkroom. As a captain in the 773rd Tank Battalion in George Patton's Third Army in WWII, Woody was awarded the Bronze Star for "meritorious operations" in a division that destroyed 105 enemy positions and 113 tanks.

An enthusiastic golfer, he was a member of Springhaven Golf Club, though in 1991 he wrote us that while his blood pressure was steady, his golf game was deteriorating. He was a Mason and a member of Swarthmore Presbyterian Church. To Elinor, his wife of 42 years, their daughter, three sons, and seven grandchildren, we offer our sincere sympathy.

The Class of 1939