Ronald Marks, Class of 1965

Ronald Marks ’65 died Oct. 1, 2020. Ron was born in Brooklyn, New York to the late Paul and Jewell Marks.

Ron grew up in Bay Shore, New York, where he attended Bay Shore High School and loved his summers working as a lifeguard at Jones Beach. He graduated from Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio in 1965, where he was in the Pi Kappa Phi (Country Club) fraternity. Ron pursued his passion for the law by obtaining his law degree from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia in 1968.

Ron moved to Virginia Beach and formed a life-long friendship with a number of attorneys particularly the late Honorable Philip Russo and Samuel I. White. It was with Mr. White that Ron established White & Marks, PC with whom he was in a partnership until he was appointed as a judge to the Virginia Beach Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court on July 3, 1986. Ron had a 20 year tenure in that position, eight of which were as Chief Judge until his retirement from the legal profession in 2006.

As a judge, Ron was instrumental in starting the Virginia Beach Bar Association CLASS Project in which local lawyers volunteered to provide legal representation to victims of domestic abuse with the assistance of CASA. His leadership resulted in the Virginia Beach Bar Association being awarded the Lewis F. Powell Jr. Pro Bono Award from the Virginia State Bar in 2001.

Ron is survived by his wife Linda Marks; sons Ryan Marks, Jeffrey (Deborah) Marks, and granddaughters Emily & Lauren. He is also survived by his brother, Craig (Susan) Marks, and niece Heather.