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His Life

New Rochelle High School

August 4, 2015

Ok, one more pic of Steven Paul Mark. My mother saved everything about our childhood. I found this picture of Steve being a special guest at an award banquet in New Rochelle in the late 1960's. That's Bob, Steve's brother in the picture, too

Little League

August 4, 2015
John Heck

My childhood friend Steven Paul Mark died last week and we had just reconnected after 50 years or so. I add a picture of him crossing home plate after hitting a home run in little league in 1958. Eddie Mangels is mentioned in the caption and unfortunately he passed in the past few weeks as well.

Flo & Eddie

August 1, 2015

I wish I had more time with Flo and Ed (I teased them that famous RnR stars  were named after them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flo_%26_Eddie). I hope none of the Changs and Changians thought me rude.

I remember their Thanksgiving trip of 2006 just after we bought New Wiltwyck. Your Mom didn’t care it wasn’t furnished except with beds. She had Judy pull the outdoor chaise in to have her coffee and watch the sun rise. They went around the area like they were kids in a toy shop. Your Dad would return from a day out and scour the few books about the area we had there at the time. It saddens me to think of the years I missed with them and what was not meant to be. I bet there would have been plenty of sightseeing voyages.

So, anytime you want to write your thoughts on two such magnificent people, I am eager to read them.

 -- SPM (email 2013-06-22)

The Awakening (horror)

August 1, 2015

It’s a good one. Raleigh’s my expert and we watched this one. We especially like horror period pieces. What’s fun about this one is how a charlatan’s pronouncements start to actually happen. Kind of like a phony fortune teller’s predictions start to become true against his/her interests.

I won’t watch any when I’m alone either.

 -- SPM (email 2013-11-17)

My Grandmother's Orange Almond Cake

August 1, 2015

My paternal grandmother used to bake one for major family dinners (Thanksgiving, Christmas and when my LA uncle came to town). My other uncle from Univ of Connecticut was Christian and my aunt and he had no kids. They celebrated the Christmas holiday by coming to NYC, taking my brothers and I to museums, stage shows and other disgustingly wonderful tourist places. Also restaurants of international cuisine. But I digress.

My grandmother’s cake was usually one of many (e unum pluribus, if you will) and if my stomach was then capable, I’d usually have a piece after the banana cake, applesauce cake (my all time favorite) or plum cake. It was very moist and tasty. I’ll put it in my calendar to remind you.

Yum.

 -- SPM (email 2013-11-16)

Healthy Thoughts

August 1, 2015

It sucks being sick. I’m thinking of you and sending healthy thoughts (Judy taught me how to do this). xxoo

 -- SPM (email 2014-01-13)

Up with kilts

July 30, 2015

[on the Tartan Day Parade]

The parade should be quite lively this year. Debating on starting the beard again.

SPM (email 2013-11-23)

Later in life he collected books and toy soldiers

July 30, 2015

I loved postcards and used to collect them (along with matchbooks, bottle
caps, insects, rocks and baseball cards--all long gone). Now it's replicas.

 -- SPM (email 2014-04-05)

Katie Perry vs Vladmir Putin

July 30, 2015

Very cool. But our Civil War and Revolutionary War were fought here and both ripped the country apart. Not comparable in scope and casualties but certainly homegrown and fundamental to our history. You know how impactful the former was by virtue of all the issues we have today with poverty and race. Still, we’re a nation of morons when it comes to history. It’s becoming increasingly more obvious our moron status is applying to current events. A reporter went to a Myley Cyrus concert (15,000+ attended) and asked four women to identify the photos of four people, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Vladmir Putin and Katie Perry. Only one could identify the men. They all knew Katie Perry. If the women were 16-year old girls I could give it a pass, but these 20-something women (and I’m certain the same holds true for like-age men) should at least know the VP of the country. Sure there are plenty of astute young people but it’s troubling when twits like these don’t even seem to care how stupid they are, so long as their iPhones work.

I’m rambling, but I’ve read a lot about WWI and II and have always been struck by the ability of a soldier, for whatever reason, to face destruction and death and still be able to put one foot in front of the other. At least the Europeans seem to appreciate that. I don’t think they gather in those fields or cemeteries to honor the politicians.

 -- SPM (email 2014-04-09)

Ein Furz

July 30, 2015

A fart is the dream of a narcissist with ADHD: it grabs everyone’s attention, but not for long...

 -- SPM (email 2014-05-06)

Benedict Arnold

July 30, 2015

... Once the colonies declared their independence, they were at least 13 separate ‘states' and while busy fighting to preserve their independence saw themselves unified by a ‘Cause.’ Hence, Arnold’s actions were seen as betraying the cause he had supported for 5 years. I’m sure most British saw the rebels as traitors, scoundrels and criminals and the rebels knew it when they pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor at the end of the Declaration of Independence. However, their rebellion was open and notorious whereas Arnold’s actions were not. Just ask the British officers who served with him and English society which tended to be uncomfortable with his perfidy. Had it succeeded, things would probably have been different: we’d have a Parliament, pronounce and spell words strangely and be way too nice to make life as interesting as it is. We also would have deprived the world of a nation it loved to hate.

The next article will probably get the entire State of Connecticut to hate me—I’m going after their war hero, Israel Putnam.

 -- SPM (email 2014-05-31)

On his foot surgery

July 30, 2015

As long as I don’t get debited on my height (6’.0, ½”)

 -- Steven Paul Mark (email 2014-12-06)

A word on Dickens

July 30, 2015

Dickens was born before his time. He was very “liberal" constantly attacking in his novels poverty, mistreatment of children, the class system, the law, Victorian society and all other social ills. He was also pretty “liberal” when it came to marriage. He had a conservative side, too. Despite his attitude toward his wife, he feared mob violence, fought plagiarism of his work (i.e. copyright proponent), family values (at least when it came to his children) and protected his finances through his agent, John Forster. A complicated man. If you’re interested, Edgar Johnson’s 2-volume biography (there’s a 1-volume abridgment) is strongly recommended.

 -- Steven Paul Mark (email 2015-04-01)

The Battersea Power Station

July 30, 2015

I remember the power plant from my London trip days. I remember my first trip to that incredible city, expecting to see the pre-War kingdom. After three days I asked the hotel clerk when I could expect to see a real London Particular (I wanted to see the apparitions of David C., Oliver or Pip, or at least Dickens on one of his renown walks coming toward me). “Blimey,” he  actually began, causing me to anticipate a positive answer, “I don’t think we get them anymore.” What I didn’t realize was the fogs of romantic image that, for example, begins Bleak House, were killers, filled with coal sludge and other particulates, perpetrated by the likes of the Battersea power station (bet you didn’t know where I was heading with this). So much for reading Dickens, although the Circumlocution Office is an indelible description of government bureaucracy that will always be with me.

  -- Steven Paul Mark (email 2015-04-01)

Obituary

July 30, 2015

Steven Paul Mark, attorney, author, and avid historian, passed away on July 29, 2015 at his home in Manhattan. He was 68 years old.

Born in New York and raised in New Rochelle, NY, the middle son in a family of three boys, his wit and generous heart made him life-long friends in all corners of a diverse neighborhood. Steven was an outstanding student and collegiate athlete but suffered a neck fracture while playing football during his freshman year at Colgate University that left him a quadriplegic. Undaunted by this unimaginable turn in his life, he finished college in four years and went on to graduate school to study Latin American history at UCLA. He returned to New York to attend Brooklyn Law School and began what would become a highly successful career in entertainment law.

Steven worked at the William Morris Agency, HBO, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, JP Kids and Broadway Digital Entertainment before launching his own practice. Many of his clients became personal friends. Besides his professional life, Steven was a keen historian whose love of Revolutionary War stories was boundless. He wrote several novels, most notably “Drift” published in 2006, as well as several articles and historical reviews in the Journal of the American Revolution. He was also the writer of Dinosaur!, a 1985 groundbreaking TV documentary narrated by the late Christopher Reeve. Steven was a great devotee of Charles Dickens and the London of that time. He was by all accounts an honorary Scotsman for his loud cheering at every Tartan Day parade in New York and his love of bagpipes and a dram of the malt.

Steven is survived by his partner "light of my life" Judy Chang, his mother Beatrice Mark, and brothers Robert and Michael, and is predeceased by his father Cy Mark. Also surviving are his children Dustin (Julie), Morgan and Raleigh, and two grandchildren, Rebecca and Matthew as well as his beloved dog Casey.

FUNERAL Sunday, August 2, 2015  
INTERMENT Monday, August 3, 2015

DETAILS ON FIRST PAGE UNDER "ABOUT"