Eugene Robert Marks

Eugene R. Marks, a pioneering filmmaker and one of the pillars of the local Jewish community, died at home with his wife Myra at his side in Thousand Oaks at the age of 89 on January 20, 2013 of leukemia. Known for his intellect, wit, loyalty, and passionate sense of moral justice, Marks was one of the last surviving veterans of the U.S. Army Air Forces First Motion Picture Unit, in which he served during World War II alongside director John Sturges, writer Irving Wallace, actors Clark Gable, Ronald Reagan, William Holden, Lee J. Cobb, Alan Ladd, and others. The unit comprised leading filmmakers enlisted from Hollywood to make recruiting and training films, including the classified films that prepared U.S. bombing crews to find targets in Germany and Japan to end the war. Born in 1923 in Los Angeles, Marks grew up living on the Universal Studios back lot during the Great Depression, and then attended Los Angeles High School and UCLA. Marks worked for over 40 years in the film industry, first as a Sound Editor and then as a Music Editor. After stints at Desilu and Universal, he was for over 35 years a Music Editor at Warner Bros., where he worked on a wide range of classic films and TV programs like My Fair Lady, Camelot, Giant, Cool Hand Luke, Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, Blazing Saddles, The Exorcist, Enter the Dragon, Mame, Roots and Bugs Bunny/Road Runner cartoons. He was sent to Moscow in the winter of 1969-70 by Warner Bros. and the U.S. Government to work on a unique international film co-production on Tchaikovsky as part of the "détente" thawing in U.S.-Soviet relations. Marks was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) and the Motion Picture Editors Guild. A past-president of Temple Adat Elohim in Thousand Oaks, Marks served as a leader and active volunteer for a number of local arts and industry organizations, including the Warner Bros. Studio Museum, the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, Camerata Pacifica, the New West Symphony, the Conejo Players, and the Paley Center for Media. He is survived by his wife Myra (Goldman) Lee, his son Allan Marks (Mara Cohen Marks), his daughter Susan (Marks) Jacoby, his grandchildren Danielle Jacoby, Brandon Jacoby and Jacqueline Marks, and his first wife Maryann (Sloan) Kleinman.

Memorial service and burial will be on Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, CA. In lieu of flowers, the family would welcome donations in Gene’s memory to one of the following charities or to another charity of their choice:

Temple Adat Elohim

2420 East Hillcrest Drive

Thousand Oaks, CA 91362

(805) 497-7101

Designation: Eugene R. Marks Memorial Fund

http://www.adatelohim.org/Support-TAE-s/1253.htm

or

Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation

10045 Riverside Drive

Third Floor

Toluca Lake, CA 91602

(888) 994-3863

Designation: In Memory of Eugene R. Marks

http://www.wrpioneers.org/

https://secure.webaloo.com/wrpioneers/donate.asp

or

Buena Vista Hospice Care

143 Triunfo Canyon Road # 103

Westlake Village, CA 91361

(805) 777-1133

Designation: In Memory of Eugene R. Marks

http://www.buenavistahospicecare.com/