Deceased January 13, 2022
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In Memory
Donald was the elder son of Robert Saul and Rita Hite Marcus. He attended West Philadelphia High School and then, at Amherst, majored in English and played soccer and lacrosse. He joined Delta Upsilon and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Donald graduated from medical school at the University of Pennsylvania in 1961. He spent a year at St. Anne’s Hospital in Paris and completed a residency in psychiatry at Temple in 1967, followed by practice in Philadelphia. He then changed course and did a residency in neurology at the Pennsylvania hospital, finishing in 1975. He went to the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta as an assistant professor, where he wrote about nerve conduction in rats before returning to Pennsylvania at the VA Hospital in Coatesville. There he served as section chief until retirement in 2008. Donald remained at Coatesville, working part time in mental health until final retirement in 2020. He was fully board-certified in both neurology and psychiatry.
Donald enjoyed hiking, reading French poetry, stamp collecting and playing the cello poorly. He also studied the Welsh language, attending the program of Cymdeithas Madog each summer and chairing the scholarship program of the Welsh Society of Philadelphia.
While at Amherst, he admired greatly Chaplain John Coburn, and he continued to find comfort in the services and fellowship of the Episcopal Church throughout the rest of his life. He served as a reader at St. Peter’s in the Great Valley and found many friends at St. Luke and the Epiphany in downtown Philadelphia.
Donald enjoyed robust good health until the last years of life, when he suffered from pulmonary sarcoidosis. He is survived by his nephew, Bryn Evan, and his sister-in-law, Valerie Blodwen.
—Donald Marcus ’55