Determined to succeed, and committed to helping the community as a medical examiner, Dr. Jose Sanchez Marquez often worked seven days a week, and he did so while building extensive art collections with his wife.

He always had a project going yet made sure to find time for his family as he inspired his children to pursue their dreams.

His schedule was so packed that sometimes he slipped family commitments between medical examiner responsibilities, such as the time he paid a quick visit to his daughter’s flute concert. “The poor guy just flew in for the three minutes of my solo, waved, and left,’’ said Nora Sanchez Turner of Ipswich.

She added she and her siblings were “all marveling at his work ethic and how he accomplished so much, coming from such humble circumstances.’’ He moved from Mexico to the United States in 1951, she noted, and his home city of Colima “is a long way from Boston.’’

Known professionally as Dr. Sanchez and serving as Middlesex County medical examiner for more than 20 years, he died of congestive heart failure July 24 in North Shore Medical Center Salem Hospital. He was 91 and lived in Swampscott.

In 1976, Governor Michael S. Dukakis appointed Dr. Sanchez to his medical examiner post, a title he held until 1997.

As a medical examiner, Dr. Sanchez was brilliant and detail-oriented, said Dr. Madan Zutshi, who worked with him at Whidden Memorial Hospital in Everett, where Dr. Sanchez had served as chief of pathology.

“The guy was a genius,’’ Zutshi added. “He was one of the smartest doctors that I know.’’

Zutshi said he often was most impressed by Dr. Sanchez’s ability to complete projects that would normally require a team of at least five doctors. “He single-handedly would wear many, many, many hats,’’ Zutshi said.

One of five siblings, Dr. Sanchez was born in 1925 in Colima. When he was young, a destructive earthquake shook the area, prompting his parents, Camilo Sanchez and Sara Marquez, to move the family to Guadalajara, where he spent the rest of his childhood.

He received a medical degree from the University of Guadalajara and received additional pathologist training in Brazil and Argentina.

He dreamed of expanding his career globally, his daughter said. So in 1951 he went to the University of Minnesota to pursue a master’s in pathology .

“He had a vision of what he wanted to do, and that’s what he did. He and my mother wanted a lot of children, and they had a lot of children,’’ his daughter said. “He went down the list, and he managed to get it all in there.’’

At Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., Dr. Sanchez met Erna Sjoblom, a Finnish nurse who had also traveled abroad for her education. Both were still mastering English, their daughter said, but “somehow it clicked.’’

They married in 1955 and had five children. They moved to Mexico for a couple years before relocating to Massachusetts. Dr. Sanchez worked at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford for several years and completed a fellowship in Harvard Medical School in forensics.

“He was a good husband and a good father,’’ Erna said. “He was very involved in their schoolwork and their education. He was very much for education for all of his children. That was very important to him.’’

The family moved to Swampscott in 1963.In addition to his work at Whidden Memorial, Dr. Sanchez served as a consultant at several Boston hospitals.

He was an avid art collector, fascinated first with pre-Columbian art and Latin American art, and later, inspired by his wife, with European art. He spent his free time attending art shows and auctions and took great pride in the collections he and his wife built.

“Collecting antiques is a wonderful thing. You become involved in history,’’ Dr. Sanchez told the Globe in 1974, after buying two antique chairs from an auction of actor John Barrymore’s belongings.

“We don’t care where it came from,’’ he said. “We like French pieces. We just love antiques. We buy what we like.’’

A service will be announced for Dr. Sanchez, who in addition to his wife and daughter leaves four children, Raul of Roxbury, Vt.; Nina of Miami; Andre of Newton; and Kristian of Malden; and six grandchildren.

Dr. Sanchez’s ambition and perseverance inspired his family members, who say he never let challenges faze him.

“He pushed himself up from nothing,’’ Erna said. “He was a very good man, a very kind, good man, who worked very hard in his life to go forward.’’

Felicia Gans can be reached at felicia.gans@globe.com.