Robert F. Furchgott

Robert Francis Furchgott (June 4, 1916 – May 19, 2009) was a Nobel Prize-winning American biochemist.

Furchgott was born in Charleston, SC, to Arthur Furchgott (December 1884 - January 1971) and Pena Sorentrue Furchgott. He graduated with a degree in chemistry in 1937 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, received his Ph.D in biochemistry at Northwestern University in 1940. He was faculty member of Washington University School of Medicine from 1949 to 1956. From 1956 to 2009, he was professor of pharmacology at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center.

In 1978, Furchgott discovered a substance in endothelial cells that relaxes blood vessels, calling it endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF). By 1986, he had worked out EDRF's nature and mechanism of action, and determined that EDRF was in fact nitric oxide (NO), an important compound in many aspects of cardiovascular physiology. This research was important in explaining the action of Viagra, treatment of blue babies, and other medical and health-related issues.

From 1989 to 2004, Furchgott was a professor of pharmacology at the University of Miami School of Medicine.

In addition to the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine he shared in 1998 (with Louis Ignarro and Ferid Murad), Furchgott also received a Gairdner Foundation International Award for his groundbreaking discoveries (1991) and the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (1996), the latter also with Ferid Murad.

Furchgott, who was Jewish, lived for most of his married and career life in Woodmere, NY (Long Island). He was married to Lenore Mandelbaum (February 1915 - April 1983) from 1941 until she died aged 68. They had three daughters: Jane, Susan and Terry. His daughter Susan was a prolific artist in the San Francisco counter culture and a co-founder of the Kerista Commune(she was also known as "Even Eve" and "Eve Furchgott"). Robert Furgott later married Margaret Gallagher Roth, who died March 14, 2006. He served as a professor emeritus at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center. In 2008 he moved to Seattle's Ravenna neighborhood. Furchgott died on May 19, 2009 in Seattle. He is survived by his three daughters, four grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.