Marc Marshall died Sunday night in a car accident in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. I met Marc nearly 5 years ago when I started selling cars at Atamian VW-Honda in Tewksbury. He was a sales manager. I was actually referred to work there by a mutual friend because of Marc and his strong reputation.
I remember, on my first day at the VW dealer, he asked me what my job was. “Umm, car salesmen,” I said.
“Wrong,” he replied. “You’re job is your family. It’s your duty to take care of them. This,” he said as he waved his hand above his head, “is what you do to support your job.”
Marc wasn’t like other people, and he was okay with that. He and his wife remodeled their kitchen, spent over $25k on it, and his pride and joy in the new kitchen was a custom installed humidor for his cigar collection. He knew this wouldn’t add any real value to his home, but he wanted it, so he got it. It made his life richer, not monetarily, but spiritually, or esoterically.
He was completely honest and open about his life. I remember he told me about this one time he did acid. He said he wasn’t a huge hippie-type guy, but he dropped from time to time. This was in the early 80′s, shortly after he got out of high school. He said it started out as one of the best trips he’d ever done. It lasted all day, and when he went to bed, he had amazing, vivid dreams. He woke up the next day, still tripping. He said he started to get a little sick of it by the second night. He ended up coming to after tripping for 3 and a half days. That was the last time he did acid.
Marc was just about as liberal as I am. He was a member of the ACLU and Greenpeace. Though he was very liberal, he made it a point to be diplomatic, and to not step on anyone’s toes. Maybe it’s due to his being older than me, but there are times where I have trouble controlling my raging liberalism.
I haven’t talked to Marc since he tried to recruit me to work for Toyota of Watertown. I would have gone in a heartbeat, if it wouldn’t have been a 2-hour commute. I used him as a reference for the last 3 jobs I’ve gotten, and each time, the interviewer has told me that Marc offered to hire me if they didn’t. I just heard that same message from a recruiter about 5 weeks ago.
Aside from my family and girlfriend, Marc is likely my favorite person in the world. He was able to balance a good family life with a successful career without sacrifice who he was and what he believed. I only hope that I can be half the man Marc Marshall was.
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I am sorry to read about the passing of your friend and mentor. He sounds like a great guy who will be missed.
Best of luck to you.
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