Nan Darack Fuhrman passed away on Oct. 4 after a 17-year battle with neuroendocrine cancer, an orphan disease. She died peacefully at home with her husband, Bob Fuhrman.
Nan was born in 1948 in Brookline, Massachusetts. She was the beloved daughter of Marion and Melvin Darack; sister of John and Joel Darack; mother of Eli Fuhrman, a wonderful and loving son married to Andrea (Linder) Fuhrman; stepsister of Arnie (Barbara) Mork, Dory Mork and David Mork (deceased). Nan also leaves behind brothers-in-law Brad and Andrew Fuhrman; sisters-in-law Lynn Fuhrman, Roxanne Fuhrman, Marilyn Darack, Laurie Darack; many nieces and nephews and many close friends, including Andrea Fuhrman’s parents, Jeff and Sandy Linder.
Nan received her B.A. in French from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and her MBA from George Washington University. Following the end of her first marriage, Nan lived in Haiti and the Dominican Republic for about two years prior moving to Washington, D.C., in the early 1980s. She was fluent in French and Spanish and competent in Haitian Creole. Nan worked as a contract manager for several consulting firms, including ICF, Aspen Systems, SAIC and Seneca Economics and Environment.
In addition to her family and taking impeccable care of her son and husband, Nan’s other great passions in life were cats and goldendoodles, painting, cooking, Cape Cod and providing emotional support and relevant medical information for people who have neuroendocrine cancer. Nan studied painting with artists at Glen Echo’s Yellow Barn, including Walt Bartman, Jordan Bruns and Glen Kessler; and displayed and sold paintings at art shows in Maryland, Massachusetts and D.C.
For 13 years, the Fuhrmans’ signature party was the “Seneca Annual Tomato Harvest Festival,” a mythic event attended some years by up to 140 people, at their former home in Germantown, Maryland. The food included hot dogs, hamburgers and up to 37 separate dishes Nan prepared based on her husband’s homegrown tomatoes and tomato recipes she gathered from around the world. The Fuhrmans vacationed for many years at the Darack family summer place on Ashumet Pond in Falmouth, Massachusetts.
Nan was an active participant in the Capital Area Carcinoid/Neuroendocrine Tumor Support Group. She performed a leadership role on its executive committee. Donations in memory of Nan may be sent to the Carcinoid Cancer Foundation, the NET Research Foundation or the Healing NET Foundation.