Roy Markon

Roy Markon, a former commissioner of the General Services Administration, died peacefully at his home in Arlington, Va., on April 26. He was 94. Mr. Markon was born Feb. 8, 1925, in an area of West Mifflin Borough, Pa., known as Coal Valley. He was preceded in death by his parents, Robert Markon and Kata Arlov Markon; his five sisters – Mildred Maravich, Violet Radovic, Dorothy Leap, Mary Ceker and Janet Dulat – and two brothers, Michael Markon and George Markon. He is survived by his widow, Diana Mandich Markon, his five children – John Markon of Midlothian, Va., Joann Markon of Arlington, Joyce Aten of Port Orange, Fla., Michael Markon of Springfield, Va., and Catherine Markon of Arlington. Other survivors are granddaughter Elizabeth Markon Oakland and great-granddaughter Zoe Francis Oakland, both of Charlottesville, Va. Mr. Markon was graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh in 1943 and immediately enlisted in the U.S. Army. During World War II, he served in Italy as a sergeant with the 88th Division of the Fifth Army. He was seriously wounded in the line of duty in November of 1944 and returned to the U.S. for treatment. He was honorably discharged in December of 1945 having earned the Combat Infantry Badge, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct medal and the WWII Victory medal. In 1951, while still a law student at the University of Pittsburgh, he married Diana Mandich of McKeesport, Pa. He was eventually graduated from Pittsburgh with degrees from the Business School and the Law School. His career with the U.S. government began in 1956 when he took a position as an attorney/advisor to the Army Corps of Engineers. He was relocated to Washington in 1961 and, in 1962, he was recruited by the Congressional Public Works Committee to advise a select subcommittee that made a study of all the government’s land acquisition practices. He was one of two authors of the subcommittee’s eventual recommendations on condemnation and eminent domain. Following that assignment he returned to the Army Corps of Engineers as chief of the Land Acquisitions Division. He later took a similar position with the U.S. Navy before being named a GSA commissioner in 1978, serving until his retirement in 1982. Burial will be in Arlington National Cemetery at a later date with no service planned until that time. Funeral arrangements are being handled by the Murphy Funeral Home, 4510 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington.