David Marcus

Feb. 17, 1932 - May 28, 2020 Resident of Cupertino

David Marcus died in Cupertino on May 28th, after a brief illness leading to kidney failure. He spent his last weeks at home cared for by his family, with help from the marvelous nurses of Heartland Hospice Care. He is survived by his wife of sixty years, Sonja Marcus, their son Erik, and their daughter Karen.

David was born in the Bronx on February 17, 1932, the son of Sol and Gertrude Marcus. Despite spending about half his life in Cupertino, California, his New Yorker attitude and sensibilities never left him. He was funny, impatient, and unfailingly kind.

He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry from Columbia University. The U.S. Army drafted him shortly after the conclusion of the Korean War. He hated every moment of his military service, but nevertheless rose to the rank of sergeant. He met his wife Sonja through a distant relative while completing his doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Florida, and they were married in 1960.

David began his career working in the laboratories of E.R. Squibb & Sons in New Brunswick, New Jersey. While at Squibb, he transferred into the field of regulatory affairs. In 1976, the family moved to Cupertino, and David spent four years running the regulatory affairs department of Barnes-hind, a Sunnyvale manufacturer of contact lens solutions. The family moved to Westport, Connecticut in 1980, when David took a new job handling regulatory responsibilities for Revlon Health Care. In 1986, the family moved back to the Cupertino foothills, and David returned to Barnes-hind where he served as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs through his retirement in 1992. He then spent more than a decade doing part-time regulatory consulting for a Bay Area contact lens company.

While raising his family, he was always trying something new: soldering innards of a hi-fi system, learning macramé, futzing with computers, and manicuring bonsai trees. He gave his best effort to everything he did, and the thing he wanted most was to be a good husband and father.

David had a terrific memory and immense powers of concentration, and he read for hours every day. He devoured endless volumes of fiction and history, particularly enjoying the writings of Trollope, Churchill, and Mencken.

Starting with his late-1960s Mustang, he owned a succession of bright red muscle cars that rarely exceeded the speed limit, despite his son’s vociferous objections.

David filled his retirement with volunteer work, and through his early 80s he also played tennis six mornings a week. He helped create audio recordings for the blind, tutored ESL to recent immigrants, and donated gallons of blood. In the mid-1990s, he became a court-appointed child advocate, tasked with helping a boy navigate his way through the foster care system. David also regularly staffed the adoption desk at the Humane Society Silicon Valley for about a decade, and during that time he and Sonja provided in-home foster care to over 250 kittens. He never received nor sought recognition for any of this volunteer work—he just loved spending time in ways that benefited others.

He leaves behind numerous people and animals forever enriched by his generosity, compassion, and care. Donations in his memory may be made to the Humane Society Silicon Valley.