I knew Mr. Marcus as a very kind, caring and thoughtful person. His passing is a tragic loss to his friends and the Theater Industry.

Well, a few years later, I've made assistant manager at 4 differt Marcus Theatres, interned in the corporate office, helped develop a Y2K software program, sat on various committees for customer service, and attended a shareholder meeting as I now own company stock. Not bad for a guy who started out at $4.75 at a one screen budget :-) .

Most recently I attended Ben Marcus' funeral. It was held in a beautiful Jewish temple and it was packed. If anyone ever knew Ben Marcus, they knew he was a businessman at heart. He was famous in Wisconsin for owning the Marc's Cafe, Applebee's, and Captain's Steakjoint restaurants, Baymont Inns, and of course Marcus Theatres. So of course the crowd broke out into laughter when the rabbi said "When Ben Marcus was a young boy, he thought about becoming a rabbi. But the world of business called him, and he became very successful at it. Yet we all know if Ben Marcus was a rabbi, he would have owned a chain of synagogues." :-)