William B. Marks, born in Montgomery on July 30, 1933, died in Washington, DC on June 9, 2024. Bill was the second son of Ellen Norwood Allison Marks and Episcopal preacher John Scott Marks, Sr. His older brother, John Scott Marks, Jr., and younger brother, Charles Lewis Marks, predeceased him.
Bill completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Physics in 1956 at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, followed by his Ph.D. in Biophysics in 1964 at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Bill’s career continued at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland. After retirement Bill volunteered for many years at Washington’s Jackson-Reed (formerly Wilson) High School.
Bill met his first wife, Anne Foerster, at MIT, and they married in 1957. They raised their children, Matthew, Michael, and Laura, in Baltimore, divorcing in 1973. After years of devoted friendship, Bill married Sally Montague in 2006.
Bill befriended strangers at the drop of a hat and considered everybody “my people.” Vigorous, strong, and energetic. He could electrify a dance floor with his unique moves. He played trombone and cello and loved to sing in small groups. At the old family house in Perdido Beach, Bill would canoe and sail the bay in a small Sunfish with his children, daughters-in-law Paula and Caryl, son-in-law Rick, and grandchildren Helena, Bryan, Regina, and Peter. He loved to cook the foods of his Southern childhood like Hoppin’ John and cornbread.
Bill joined Sufism Reoriented, a school dedicated to spiritual figure Meher Baba, in 1974. In his later years, he developed a theory that synthesized theoretical physics and mysticism, seeing the universe as a single living consciousness.
Posted online on August 08, 2024
Published in Montgomery Advertiser