Marcia V. Tanur

Marcia Valerie Tanur, MD, age 62, physician and social justice warrior and longtime resident of Cambridge, MA passed away suddenly in her home in Durham, NH surrounded by her spouse and two children on February 12, 2022.

A beloved wife to Victoria Gurfolino, proud mother to her two children Max Jorge Tanur and Emma Chun Tanur, and loving daughter to Michael and Judith Tanur. She is preceded in death by her beloved sister Rachel Tanur (2002).

A graduate of Albany Medical School in 1990, she practiced medicine in the Greater Boston community. An advocate for all, she practiced family medicine, acupuncture, and specialized in addiction medicine. She traveled to other parts of the country and South America to provide relief services to those in crisis. With a small group of her colleagues, she started a confidential free health clinic in Watertown, MA for immigrants who were uninsured. She never worked less than two jobs as she was driven to help as many people as she could in all types of communities. Despite having health complications since her twenties, she never stopped working to help others. Her life’s work as a physician is a forceful testimony to her passion for serving the underserved.

Marcia had always wanted a family and despite gay marriage not being legal in the U.S. at the time, she saved up and in 1999, traveled with Vicky across the world to adopt Max from Guatemala and Emma from China. Her love for her children was infinitely large and immensely bright. As a multicultural being and loving mom, she signed her whole family up for a week-long Spanish camp, took Emma to her adoptee group every Sunday for nineteen years, brought us to Chinese New Year celebrations, and took us every week to Sunday School at the Workmen's Circle to connect with our Jewish roots. Her children had the good fortune to grow up in accepting and multicultural spaces because of her constant efforts for them to have a community. She was the engineer of many adventurous family trips to Italy, Denmark, Paris, Canada, California, New Mexico, England, Scotland, Florida, and many more destinations. In 2021, she and her family moved to a second home in Durham, which was a source of much joy and solace. Family meant everything to her, and she will be missed every day.

She was a wonderful force of life, and her death is a loss for all. Her funeral will be held on Friday, February 18 at 11:30 AM at Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, requiring masks.

To honor her memory, donations may be made to organizations listed at http://rememberingmvt.squarespace.com