Obituary - ARNOLD MARCUS

Submitted by the family

Arnold Marcus passed away on March 15, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. He was born Aug. 1, 1931, in South Philadelphia to William and Mary Marcus. At an early age he developed a love for airplanes, classical music and opera. Some of you might be wondering when and why he began eating the way he did. He began eating this way around age 18. The reason is simple, as a child he ate a standard diet and was always sick ... always. It was his Uncle Albert who introduced him to a different way of eating. He adopted it, got well and never looked back. Although he played team sports, he preferred body building and gymnastics.

During the Korean War he enlisted and spent 4 years in the Air Force. It was in the military where he began his love for motorcycles and road a Harley until he was 80. In addition, at one point he was stationed at McCoy Air Force base which is now the Orlando International Airport. It was during this time he fell in love with the weather here in Florida and hoped that someday he could live here. Upon returning home to Philadelphia, he went to Temple University and earned an associate's degree as a draftsman.

In 1960 he purchased his first Corvette, first of about 20, and he met Sandra, who would become his wife. They were married in October 1962. Interesting fact ... While the world was holding its breath during the Cuban Missile Crisis, my parents were on their honeymoon. Where? On Miami Beach of course where the story is that they had no idea what was going on in the world. Before I was born, my would-be parents lived in Philadelphia, Cocoa Beach and on Long Island.

While on Long Island, my dad worked at Grumman, now Northrop Grumman, as a designer on the F14 Tomcat. After that program ended, the family moved to Cocoa Beach where Marcus worked as a designer on the lunar module. Eventually in 1971 the family moved back to Philadelphia. After a divorce, Mr. Marcus remarried in 1981. They moved to Orlando in 1979. At that time, he worked at Martin Marietta, now Lockheed Martin, where he was a designer on test equipment for missiles that were fired from helicopters.

In 1989, Mr. Marcus was taken away from the drawing board and, in his words, "put into a zombie room where it's cold, dark and it takes me 20 minutes to tell a computer how to draw a line that would typically take me a few seconds." He became frustrated to the point where at age 58 he retired. He would spend the next nearly 30 years in perfect health enjoying himself with his hobbies including building large scale warbird model airplanes.

He was a very good pilot, and the best model airplane repair person ever. He ended up on at least two magazine covers for his planes and won a trophy at the Joe Nall fly in.

In 2004, he visited the Udvar Hazy Air & Space Museum and was like a kid in a candy store. In his later years, he eventually stopped flying his airplanes and began to watch tv. His favorite tv show was Hogan's Heroes.

Mr. Marcus is survived by his loving wife of 43 years, Barbara Marcus of Orlando, Florida; devoted son, Wayne (Rebecca) Marcus of Bradenton, Florida and his beloved granddaughter, Kaylee Marcus of Bradenton, Florida.

Graveside Service for Mr. Marcus were held at Cape Canaveral National Cemetery (5525 US-1, Mims, FL 32754) with Rabbi Arnold Siegel of Jewish Family Services officiating. May he rest in peace and may his memory always be a blessing.

Service entrusted to Bath Shalom Memorial Chapel, 933 Lee Road, Suite 101, Orlando, Florida 407-599-1180.