Obituary of William Marks

William Marks died Friday, June 15, 2007, at his home in Iowa City. He spent his final moments with his wife Susan and his sons John and Joe. He was 58 years old. A public visitation will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at Gay and Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service in Iowa Ctiy. Home. Private Family services will be held later. Bill retired May 30 from Mid-Prairie School District’s Kalona Elementary School where he began his teaching career in 1974 and where he had been principal for the past 10 years. Bill was born April 11, 1949, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Louise Epstein and Emanuel Marks. He was the youngest of five children. He later moved with his mother to Champaign, Illinois, where he graduated from University of Illinois High School in 1967. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois in 1972. He married Susan Schacht on June 12, 1971; the couple moved to Iowa City in 1972. Bill earned a master’s degree from the University of Iowa College of Education in 1974 and completed a Ph.D. there in 1985. Bill began his career as a special education teacher at Kalona Elementary School in 1974. He then served as a special education administrator with Area Education Agency 6 in Grinnell and Marshalltown and with the Southern Prairie Area Education Agency in Ottumwa. He was principal of Blakesburg Elementary-Middle School for three years and returned to Kalona Elementary School as principal in 1997. He is survived by his wife Susan; son John and girlfriend Crystal Myslajek of Minneapolis; son Joe of Grand Forks, N.D.; sister Leslie Burgess and husband Tom of Bonita Springs, Fla.; sister Julie Walberer of Chicago; brother Roger Marks and wife Carol of Boston; twin sister Emilie Marks and partner Nancy Howard also of Boston; and brother-in-law John Schacht and wife Elizabeth of Iowa City. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to Art Of This Gallery at 3506 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis, MN, 55408 or to the Mid-Prairie Foundation at PO Box 150, Wellman, IA, 52356.