Malcolm M. Furniss is a forest entomologist focusing on forest insects in western North America and Europe. Furniss was born on 17 June 1926 in Branchville, New Jersey. He grew up in Waverly, New York. He joined the Army in January 1945 before being discharged in November of the same year. He received his bachelor's degree in forestry with a minor in entomology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950. He was hired by the Berkeley Forest Insect Lab, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, USDA in June of 1950 survey bark-beetles in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In 1953, Furniss was transferred to the USDA Forest Service, California Forest and Range Experiment Station. In 1954, he moved to Ogden, Utah where he worked for the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station as an Entomologist. In May of 1955, Furniss was transferred to Boise, Idaho. Furniss transferred to Moscow, Idaho and the Forestry Science Lab in 1963 and began attending the University of Idaho as a part-time graduate student. He received his master's in Entomology in May 1966. His work continued to focus on bark-beetles at this time. Furniss became Project Leader of the research work unit, Insects of Forest Trees and Wild-land Shrubs of the Northern Rocky Mountains in 1969. He retired in 1982 from the USDA Forest Service and has since been affiliated with the Department of Entomology at the University of Idaho.