Obituary of Frederick W Marks III

Frederick W. Marks III was born on November 13, 1940 in New York City to Frederick W. Marks Jr. and Mary Grace Devine Marks. As a graduate student at the University of Michigan, he met Sylvia Kasey Marks; they married at Immaculate Conception Church in Hamtramck, MI, on August 12, 1967.  He died on January 16, 2025, and is survived by his wife Sylvia and his daughter, Sister Maria Veritas Marks, O.P., a Dominican Sister of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. Fred attended Loyola High School in NYC and graduated with a B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross, and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.  He taught at the University of Michigan, Purdue University, and St. John’s University.  As an American historian, he published several books and scholarly articles on diplomatic history, including Independence on Trial: Foreign Affairs and the Making of the Constitution (1973), Velvet on Iron: the Diplomacy of Theodore Roosevelt (1979), Wind Over Sand: The Diplomacy of Franklin Roosevelt (1988), and Power and Peace: The Diplomacy of John Foster Dulles (1993). 

Fred expressed his love of God and devotion to his Roman Catholic faith in daily life, through Biblical studies, street evangelizing, and serving Mass until his illness. In later years, he published numerous articles and books on Catholicism, including A Catholic Handbook for Engaged and Newly Married Couples (1994), A Brief for Belief: The Case for Catholicism (1999), The Gift of Pain (2012), Think and Believe (2012), Confessions of a Catholic Street Evangelist (2017), and Pro-Life Champion: The Untold Story of Monsignor Phillip J. Reilly and His Helpers of God’s Precious Infants (2017). 

The funeral Mass will be held at Queen of Martyrs Church in Forest Hills on Saturday, January 18 at 10:30 a.m., with a private burial taking place at 2:00 p.m. at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent to: Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church, Forest Hills, New York, or the Dominican Sisters of Mary, 4597 Warren Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105.