Franz Furrer-Münch was born in 1924 in Winterthur, Switzerland. He studied at the Conservatory Basel, predominantly with Rudolf Moser, who instructed him in music theory, harmony, and counterpoint. Subsequently, Furrer-Münch opted for a more commercially oriented career and undertook studies in art commerce. From 1969–1989 he worked, taught, and researched at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich and at Stony Brook University in New York. In addition, from 1965–1973 he attended musicological lectures at the University Zurich. In 1976 he received additional training at the Studio for Electronic Music in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, which steered him in the direction of New Music. Furrer-Münch experimented extensively, creating graphic scores and developing new musical instruments.
From 1989 onward Furrer-Münch worked independently. In September 2010 he was awarded the distinguished Marguerite Staehelin prize for composition. Furrer-Münch died in 2010 in Niederglatt, Switzerland.