Obituary of Carl W. Hurst

Carl W. Hurst, Jr. died September 16, 2012 at his home in Arlington, VA from complications of heart disease and lymphoma. He was 85. Mr. Hurst graduated from Baylor Military Academy, Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1944. He thereafter, at the age of 17 joined the Navy and served as an enlisted man aboard a destroyer mine sweep in the South Pacific. He was commissioned as an officer in the Naval Reserve in 1950. He graduated from George Washington University, where he attended the School of Business Administration and Law School. His thirty year career in the FBI (1949 to 1979) included assignments to four field offices. One such assignment was in San Juan, Puerto Rico where he and ten other special agents handled the investigation involving the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico. Members of this group had attempted to assassinate President Truman and later attacked members of congress at the Capital. Mr. Hurst was transferred to FBI Headquarters in 1956 where he was assigned to various supervisory positions in the Criminal Investigation Division. After serving on the Inspection Staff, he was assigned to the Fugitive Section where he had a supervisory role in many of the high profile fugitive cases during the 1960’s and 1970’s. This included as Section Chief managing the “FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive” program. At the time of his retirement he directed the Special Inquiry and Civil Rights Section. He subsequently worked briefly for the United States Ethics Committee during the ABSCAM Investigation. He also worked for several law firms in connection with personal injury cases involving the use of firearms. He is survived by a daughter, Catherine and son, Wilson, and two grandsons, James and Spencer.