Although I have returned to Newark on many occasions since gradation from Weequahic to spend a week or two with my family at the house on the corner of Osborne Terrace and Bock Avenue, it’s been about 38 years since I last visited Weequahic High School. I recall during my freshman year at Indiana University returning home to watch the highly rated WHS basketball team beat up on Boys High in the finals of the holiday tournament. Sports were a great part of my Weequahic experience. I recently found my letter sweater from my football days, although it seem have shrunk considerably over the years. After receiving my B.S. degree, I stayed at Indiana University to attend optometry school. I was invited to join the faculty after graduation for what I thought was going to be a brief period while my wife at the time completed her final year of law school. Well, as it turned out, she finished law school and finished me at the same time. So, I decided to make a go of faculty life, as opposed to the original plan of private practice in Atlanta.
My second marriage lasted about as long as my first, which wasn’t very long. However, it did produce two very beautiful twin girls, Erin and Erika, who are now 24 years old. The happiest day of my life was May 13, 1980, the day they were born. They both attended Hampton University and played in the marching band, which appeared in such venues as the Gator Bowl, the RCA Dome, the Super Dome, and Giants Stadium. I am not too sure where the musical talent came from, clearly not from me, as I failed miserably when I attempted the trumpet while a student at Peshine Avenue School. Erin is now a sale representative for a pharmaceutical company and Erika is planning to go back to school next year to become a physician assistant.
Completing degrees in zoology, vision science, and optometry from IU was not enough. I took a sabbatical from my faculty position to obtain a degree in health policy from the University of North Carolina. My timing was excellent. The year before going to Chapel Hill, I got to support Indiana University’s successful march through the NCAA tournament. The next year, while I was at UNC, the Tarheels became national champions with an unknown freshman named Michael Jordan. I never saw a town painted blue before, but I did the night that UNC won the title. The following fall I returned to Indiana and my faculty position in the School of Optometry.
I managed to advance to the ranks of Professor of Optometry and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Student Administration in the Indiana University School of Optometry and Adjunct Professor of Public Health in the Indiana University School of Medicine. I have served as President of both the Indiana Public Health Association and the Indiana Optometry Association. Two of my proudest accomplishments were my US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s appointment as a United States Public Health Service Primary Care Policy Fellow and my election as Chair of the Executive Board of the American Public Health Association, which is the largest public health association in the world.
This year I was appointed by the President of Indiana University to serve as University Grand Marshal. Although many of my colleagues like to refer to me now as “Marshall-Marshal,” I prefer to be called “Marshall to the Second Power.” Recognition by the IU President stands up there with the State Health Commissioner Award for Excellence in Public Health and the Tony and Mary Hulman Health Achievement Award in Public Health and Preventive Medicine. My over 180 clinical lectures at scientific meetings in 13 countries and the US and over 60 publications in scientific journals, along with membership on over 20 state and national boards, advisory councils and commissions have been recognized through entries in Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare and Who’s Who in the World.
In my spare time I enjoy boating in the warm months and snow skiing in the cold months. In about 6 years I hope to retire to a yacht in the Caribbean where I will finally complete the novel that I have been trying to write for the last five years.
Please email me at marshall@indiana.edu.
