Austen Henry Furse Jr

Austen Henry Furse, Jr., a Texas attorney and thirty-six year resident of Austin, died Tuesday, February 16, 2010. He was 87 years old. Born in Fort Worth on February, 20, 1922, he was the elder son of Lillian Ann Brazile Furse and Austen H. Furse, who had emigrated from England and worked in the west Texas oil business in Eastland, Texas. It was there that Mr. Furse grew up and in 1939, graduated from high school before attending Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. Following his post-graduate year at Andover, where his classmates continued his lasting nickname, "Fuzzy", he entered Yale University's Class of 1944. He became an English major and a starting player on both the freshman and varsity football teams. Discharged as a 1st Lieutenant in late 1945, Mr. Furse returned to Yale to complete his studies and play a final season of football. He then entered the University of Texas Law School where he received his LL.B. degree and was an editor of the Law Review. In 1957 he received his Master of Laws degree from Columbia University. After law school, he settled in Houston, where from 1950 to 1956 he was an attorney for the Texas Gulf Sulphur Company and later, an associate of Butler, Binion, Rice & Cook law firm. He also lectured on property law at the South Texas School of Law. He subsequently moved to Bay City, Texas to become a partner in the firm of Bell, Camp, Gwin & Furse. In 1967 he was elected County Judge of Matagorda County. In 1973, Mr. Furse moved to Austin to become an Assistant Attorney General of the State of Texas and Chief of that office's Oil and Gas Division. During their life together, he and his wife, Margaret, traveled throughout the world and often participated in informal courses offered abroad. Austen Furse is survived by his wife of 55 years, Margaret Lewis Furse, a past member of the faculties of Rice University and the University of Texas, and by four children and their spouses: Austen H. Furse III and Anne Seel Furse of Houston, John L. Furse and Susanne Nitter Furse of Boston, Jane Furse Friedman and John H. Friedman of New York City, and Mary Furse and Bill McMillin of Austin, as well as by six grandchildren.