The title "outdoorsman" calls to mind a certain freewheeling, adventurous spirit that might seem, under conventional circumstances, at odds with a career as an attorney. But there was little conventional about Roger Furst, who was practicing law (and fishing and camping, in his spare time) in the early 1960s when he and a friend identified an unfilled niche in the outdoor sports market. In 1967, they founded Eastern Mountain Sports together in Wellesley, Mass., and the company expanded to include 19 locations by the time Furst sold his stake in 1979.
Furst, '56, died March 16 in Sherman, Texas. He was 78.
Furst was a lawyer by trade before he went into the business of outfitting mountaineers and skiers, but being outdoors was his passion. "He was pretty adept at doing whatever he wanted," says Heidi Furst, his daughter.
Furst was born March 15, 1934, in Cleveland, and excelled in sports throughout his youth. After leaving Stanford with his undergraduate degree, he attended the University of Michigan Law School, graduating in 1959. He practiced law briefly in Ohio before moving to Denver. Furst and Alan McDonough, his future business partner in Eastern Mountain Sports, met and became camping buddies while Furst was living in Denver. They found their equipment lacking, though, and began to think that they could supply higher quality gear to fellow enthusiasts, especially on the East Coast, where there were fewer such stores.
After selling Eastern Mountain Sports in 1979, Furst tried his hand in a few other businesses, but his heart remained outdoors. "A lot of memories for us kids . . . having him take us out for camping, hiking and skiing," Heidi Furst says. "He took us all at young ages—probably earlier than Mom wanted us to go out!"
Furst is survived by his first wife, Estelle Kalakailo; his second wife, Martha; daughters Kirsten Brenna and Heidi; sons Brandon, Edward and Jacob; five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; two sisters and a brother.
Scott Bland, ’10, is a reporter at National Journal.
