John Marcham

Marcham, JohnJohn Marcham of Ithaca, journalist, editor and publisher, died Thursday, December 4, 2014, at Cayuga Medical Center at the age of 87. His parents, Mary Cecelia Deacon and Frederick George Marcham, moved here from Reading, England, during World War II and his father taught English history at Cornell. A graduate of Ithaca High School and Cornell, John enlisted in the Army toward the end of the war and was sent to the Philippines aboard a troopship where he helped produce the ship's newspaper, his first venture with the printed word. He returned to campus to complete his college degree, served as editor-in-chief of the Cornell Daily Sun, and met and married Sun staffer Jane Haskins. He was a writer for two years at Life Magazine; then the couple bought and published the Glastonbury (Conn.) Citizen, a weekly newspaper, for one strenuous year. Several jobs later, John returned to his hometown and for five years was city editor of The Ithaca Journal, adding warmth and a light touch ("Short Takes") to that early Gannett newspaper. Then along came his major job, his 28 years as editor and publisher of the Cornell Alumni News, a self-financed monthly magazine, which repeatedly won top honors at national alumni workers' conventions. Besides covering campus news, writeups of notable and versatile alumni and class notes, the magazine's articles also explored controversy, such as "New Ways" the young were living, and issues behind the "Willard Straight Takeover" of 1969. Meanwhile John was active in the community, as a scoutmaster or cubmaster or board member of Scouting, as founding president of the County Council for Equality, board member for Watermargin, Book & Bowl, and the Cornell Railroad Historical Society. He was elected a member of the Tompkins County Board of Representatives for nine years, and was officer of the county's Economic Opportunity Council for 15 years. He co-chaired the Eugene McCarthy for President campaign in this district and was an elected delegate to the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He served on state and county Democratic committees, and he used to sort political books for the Library Book Sale. He'd been a president, campaign chair and a sustaining member of the DeWitt Historical Society and the History Center in Tompkins County. Lately he'd expressed pride at having edited 10 books since his retirement on local topics, including "Images of Rural Life" (Verne Morton's photos), "Sol Goldberg's Ithaca," "Lehigh Valley Memories," "Farmboy," and "Good Sports," and he thought others should do the same. John and Jane much enjoyed travel to Haskins haunts in New England and tracing Marcham relatives in England, as well as sightseeing from St. Petersburg to Istanbul, from Barcelona to the Greek Islands, in China and Tibet, Haiti and Burkina Faso (thanks to a Peace Corps son). His presence will be greatly missed by family and friends as well as by those whom he only recently had chanced to meet. John was predeceased by his parents and his sister Ann. He is survived by his wife Jane and son David of Ithaca; son, Bruce (Deb) of McGraw; daughter, Sarah (Chris Lowe) of Etna; and grandsons, Liam Lowe of Pittsburgh and Matthew Lowe of Chicago; and by his brother, David Marcham (Betty) of South Easton, MA. Calling hours will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, December 11, at Bangs Funeral Home, 209 West Green Street, Ithaca. In place of flowers, the family suggests a donation in John's name to the History Center in Tompkins County(http://www.thehistorycenter.net/) or a recipient of one's choice. -