Frank Marcus (March 23, 1928–December 21, 2022)

On December 21, 2022, electrophysiologists around the world lost one of its most kind, most compassionate, most energetic, and most beloved colleagues. Dr Frank Marcus passed away on December 21, 2022, at the age of 94 years. Frank was born on March 23, 1928, in Haverstraw, New York, to immigrant parents. He graduated from high school at the age of 16. He received his BA from Columbia University College. He applied to medical school but was rejected. He viewed this as his first major obstacle and also the event that triggered his interest in research. He persevered and went to graduate school to study physiology instead. He later received an MS in physiology from Tufts University. He applied to medical school a second time, was accepted, and received his MD (cum laude) from Boston University in 1953. He trained in internal medicine at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and spent a year as a cardiology research fellow at the Brigham under the guidance of Drs Sam Levine and Bernard Lown. He then completed his training in cardiology at Georgetown University Hospital under the directorship of Dr W. Proctor Harvey. The following year he was the chief medical resident at Georgetown University Hospital. From 1960 to 1968 he was Chief of Cardiology at the Georgetown University Medical Service, D.C. General Hospital and promoted from Assistant to Associate Professor. In 1969 he was appointed as the inaugural Chief of Cardiology and Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He served in this role until 1981. In 1982 he received an endowed chair and was appointed as Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona and director of the arrhythmias service and pacemaker clinic. A highlight of the academic year was the Visiting Professorship in Cardiology that he established in 1997 to honor his parents, Samuel and Edith Marcus. The public dinner was a time for faculty, trainees, and friends to share a dinner with the Marcus family and enjoy a talk from some of the world’s most renowned cardiologists, including Drs. Bernard Lown, Arthur Moss, and Hein Wellens, to name just a few.