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David Ralph Curfman, M.D., was born in Bucyrus, Ohio, the son of Ralph Oliver Curfman and Agnes Mozelle Schreck Curfman. He was married in 1970 to Blanch Lee Anderson.

He graduated from Columbia Union College with an A.B., majors in Biology and Chemistry, in 1965. He then attended George Washington University, where he completed his M.S. in Neuroanatomy, and completed work toward his Ph.D. in Neuroanatomy between 1967 and 1970. Dr. Curfman earned his M.D. degree from George Washington University School of Medicine on May 27, 1973. He also served his general surgery and neurological surgery residencies there. Dr. Curfman was Chief of Neurosurgery at Providence Hospital, Assistant Clinical Professor of Neurological Surgery at George Washington Medical Center, Senior Attending in Neurosurgery at Washington Hospital Center, and President of the Washington Academy of Neurosurgery.

Memberships

  • National Gavel Society
  • General Society of Colonial Wars (Washington, D.C. Society Surgeon; Samuel Victor Constant Society)
  • National Society Americans of Royal Descent (Councilor)
  • Order of Three Crusades 1096-1192
  • Order of Americans of Armorial Ancestry (Chaplain General)
  • Colonial Order of the Acorn
  • Saint Andrew's Society of the District of Columbia
  • Veteran Corps of Artillery in the State of New York
  • General Society of the War of 1812 (Surgeon General; Deputy President General)
  • Society of the War of 1812 in Maryland
  • Order of Indian Wars in the United States of America (Historian General)
  • Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (Aide-de-Campe, 2nd Commander in Chief)
  • National Society Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims (2nd Deputy Governor General)
  • National Society of Sons of American Colonists (Surgeon General)
  • Sons and Daughters of the Colonial & Antebellum Bench & Bar 1565-1861
  • Hereditary Order Descendants Loyalists & Patriots American Revolution Order of Washington
  • General Society Sons of the Revolution (former Chairman of the Bicentennial Commemoration Committee of the Death of George Washington)
  • National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (Board of Management; Recipient of the Bronze and Silver Good Citizenship and Meritorious Service Awards)
  • Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (Chairman of Decoration for the Memorial Day Historical Observance at Arlington National Cemetery)
  • The Pilgrim Society of Plymouth Massachusetts
  • National Society Children of the American Revolution (Honorary Senior National Vice President; Honorary President of the Ohio Society)
  • National Society Children of the American Colonists (past President General)
  • National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (Advisory Board to the President General)

Listed In

  • Marquis Who's Who in America
  • Marquis Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare
  • Marquis Who's Who in the East
  • Marquis Who's Who of Emerging Leaders in America
  • Marquis Who's Who in American Education
  • Marquis Who's Who in Science and Engineering
  • Marquis International Who's Who in Music
  • Musicians Directory (Cambridge, England)

Publications

Physicians' Reference Guide - Medicolegal Matters (chief author), privately published by the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, November, 1982

Chivalric Orders

  • Officer Companion of the Order of the Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem
  • Knight of Grace of the Military and Hospitaler Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem
  • Knight Grand Croix of the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (Grand Chirurgeon)
  • Ordo Sancti Constantini Magni

Other Notes

Dr. Curfman held membership in the following professional associations: Congress of Neurological Surgery; American College of Legal Medicine; Washington Academy of Neurosurgery; Medical Society of the District of Columbia; Sigma Xi (Science Honorary Society); Phi Delta Epsilon Medical Fraternity; Pan American Medical Society; and Association of Military Surgeons of the United States.

In addition, Dr. Curfman was an accomplished musician, having studied both piano an organ. His life-long interest in choral music and liturgies involved him in instruction at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Columbus, OH. Dr. Curfman was a frequent lecturer in Judeo-Christian ceremonies and liturgies. As dean of the District of Columbia Chapter, American Guild of Organists, he subsequently served as Washington Program Chairman of the International Congress of Organists, held for the first time in the United States in 1977. He was also a former member of the development committee for the national office of the American Guild of Organists and a member of the Royal School of Church Music (England).

He has been an elected trustee of the Board of Cathedral Choral Society, completed two terms as president, and was music repertoire planning chairman for the 250-member chorus for several years. He also served on the board of the Leo Sowerby Foundation; historian and board member of the Christmas Pageant of Peace (National Christmas Tree Lighting by the President); President of the Board of Directors of the National Columbus Celebration Association (Washington, D.C.); and a founding supporting member of the United States Capitol Historical Society.

Dr. Curfman held membership in the Elks Lodge B.P.O.E. 1191; was an honorary founder of the Elks National Foundation; charter member of the Galion Historical Society; charter member of the Crawford County Ohio Coin Club; member of the American Political Items Collectors Association; and Columbus Philatelic Society.

 

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