Marlene Adler Marks, a columnist and former managing editor of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, died Sept. 5 at 54.
Marks, who had been suffering from lung cancer, penned the column “A Woman’s Voice” and hosted an interview series, “Conversations with Marlene Marks.”
She was the recipient of several Rockower and Smolar awards, the highest honors in Jewish journalism. During the past two years, she wrote about her struggle with lung cancer with characteristic courage, perceptiveness and wit in the pages of the Jewish Journal.
Friends and colleagues recalled her gusto for living and love of Torah study, music and the theater at her funeral service Monday at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
Born in New York, Marks graduated from Queens College and the University of Southern California. She started her writing career on various Los Angeles dailies and in 1982 launched her own monthly magazine, Los Angeles Jewish Life.
She joined the Jewish Journal as managing editor in 1987, shortly after its founding. Her initial column was about the death of her husband, Burton Marks, a prominent trial lawyer.
In recent years, she also contributed to the Los Angeles Times and Hadassah Magazine and published several books, including “A Woman’s Voice: Reflections on Love, Death, Faith, Food & Family.” In addition, she was a popular public speaker and hosted her own interview series, “Conversations with Marlene Marks,” at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
Marks is survived by her daughter, Samantha; two stepchildren, Spencer and Peggye Marks; her parents, Jack and Anne Adler; and a brother, Alan.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
