Marvin Marshall, 96, longtime resident of Oak Park and husband of Erika Marshall, died peacefully at home on Jan. 28, 2023. Born in Chicago in 1926, he was a child of the Depression. Raised by his mother after his father died when he was young, he hustled pool and worked coat-check in clubs for money growing up in Albany Park.
Drafted when he graduated Von Steuben High School upon turning 18, he served in intelligence in occupied Japan, supporting the American-Japanese translator corps. He went to Roosevelt University on the GI Bill and became a high school history teacher. He met Erika (nee Kunzl) at Circle Pines, a progressive youth camp in central Michigan, where they were both summer counselors. They married in 1957, moved to Oak Park in 1964, and were a very happy couple for over 50 years.
Marvin became a principal in Chicago Public Schools, for many years at Brown Elementary, across the street from the Chicago Stadium, and then as a high school principal, retiring from Cregier Vocational, formerly McKinley High School, where he had first worked as a history teacher. He and Erika were active in the Chicago Teachers Union, believers in the Civil Rights Movement and progressive causes, and were active in Oak Park affairs. They were longtime members of the Oak Park Tennis Club. On retirement they moved to a condo at the former Oak Park Club so they could close the door and travel, which they did extensively, until Erika passed away suddenly from leukemia in 2011.
Marvin is survived by his sister, Esther Zabin (age 102); his son Eric and daughter Lisa (Derezinski); his grandchildren, Mason and Duncan Marshall, and Eme and Becca Derezinski; and his great-grandchildren, Alex and Matthew Marshall (age 1 week).
