October 20, 2004:

Jack Marks Teacher, Activist

Jack Marks, 78, a mathematics teacher and community activist in Washington, died of cancer at Veterans Medical Center in Washington.

Mr. Marks, who had lived in the Washington area since 1979, was a man of many talents, supporting himself by tutoring college students in math. He had worked in aerospace engineering; taught high school; started tennis, table tennis and checkers clubs for youth; and agitated for better nutrition in homeless shelters.

He was born in Omaha and moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1935. He attended the University of California at Los Angeles and enlisted in the Army during World War II. After the war, he completed his bachelor's degree at UCLA and received a master's degree there in mathematics.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, Mr. Marks worked at the Naval Ordnance Center in Inyokern, Calif., and subsequently at Hughes Aircraft, Space Technology Labs, Litton Industries and at Northrop Corp. as assistant program manager for the Apollo space program. He was transferred to Cocoa Beach, Fla., and continued to work in aerospace engineering for Pan American World Airways at Patrick Air Force Base until 1968.

During space program cutbacks, he was laid off. He moved to East St. Louis, Ill., where he began teaching high school math, as well as night math classes at Belleville Area Community College. In 1979, he moved to the Washington area and became a math tutor for university students.

He founded the Youth Tennis League Inc. in 1968, a national nonprofit club whose board of directors included Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe. He later started the Northern Virginia Table Tennis Club and the Willie F. Ryan Checkers Club.

A fan of symphony music, he founded the Aficionados of the Arts, an arts appreciation group. He also founded the Socratic Method Society, a group that regularly published articles in local newspapers questioning public policy. He became an anti-smoking activist, writing articles and reporting violations of smoking in public places to the authorities.

Mr. Marks taught himself Spanish and considered running for local political office as Jacobo Jose Marks. During a brief period when he was homeless, he lobbied for better nutrition in shelters and against churches that refused to take him in.

His marriage to Barbara Marks ended in divorce. His marriage to Aminata Ndiaye was annulled.