Gerald M. Purcell, 74, a London lawyer died of smoke inhalation Saturday in a fire in his seventh-storey apartment at 396 Queens Avenue.
Firemen found Mr. Purcell near a bathroom. The fire had started in a chesterfield in a den and destroyed one room. The other rooms had heat and smoke damage.
Mr. Purcell’s wife, Anne, was out shopping at the time.
When firemen reached the scene – the Four Seasons Apartment – shortly after 1 p.m., smoke was billowing from the apartment’s windows. They used the aerial snorkel truck to reach the fire.
Mr. Purcell was pronounced dead at Victoria Hospital.
Damage to the apartment and its contents was estimated at $9,000 by platoon chief Bob Hartop. Fire department investigators said smoking was the cause of the blaze.
Mr. Purcell was a partner in the law firm of Purcell and MacDonald.
