In Memory of

Jerry Marca

 Born: December 8th, 1951
Went to Heaven: August 8th, 2000

No one safe from teaser
'Jerry' Marca loved good fun

By John Stanley
The Arizona Republic
August 27, 2000

Tickled by the way his girlfriend pronounced the word "hamburger," Jerry Marca nicknamed her "Burger."

It was their long-running joke: "Burger, where are you?" or "Burger, let's go!"

At their wedding reception, Marca had a talk with the band conductor and soon the romantic strains of "Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce…" were drifting across the dance floor.

Marca was a devout, sensitive, fun-loving man who enjoyed old hymns, good food and good fun. When he was around, no one was safe from his gentle teasing.

Gerolamo "Jerry" Marca died Aug. 8 of cancer. The longtime Valley resident was 48.

Marca was born in the village of Agrigento, Sicily. When he was only 4, he came to America with his parents, Emmanuele and Maria, aboard the ship Queen Frederica. After 11 cold, stormy days at sea, they arrived in the United States and settled in Newark, N.J. When he was naturalized around 1960, Gino, as he was known to his family, changed his name to Jerry, like his favorite comedian, Jerry Lewis.

In 1962, the family moved to West Paterson, N.J., where Marca grew up a typical teenager of the time, bowling and playing baseball with his brothers, and listening to lots of rock 'n' roll music.

After graduating from Passaic Valley High School in 1969, Marca worked for Heathkit, which sold all sorts of electronic gizmos in kit form, to be assembled at home. Marca made his first TV set from a Heathkit.

Part of his job was to call the General Electric Credit Corp. for credit checks. Chiara Stella Acacia liked his voice and always tried to take his calls. For a year or so, they'd chitchat between credit checks, and eventually discovered they had a lot in common - both were Italian and had been born overseas.

When they finally met at her parents' house, the first thing Stella's father said to Marca was that he needed a haircut. Later, Marca nervously spilled a drink on the sofa. Despite the rocky start, Marca and Stella married in Bloomfield, N.J., in 1975, and went to the newly opened Disney World on their honeymoon.

They came to Phoenix in 1979 and, after stints at an insurance company and United Van Lines, Marca started working for American Express, first as a new accounts analyst, then in the credit card fraud department. He enjoyed the challenge of investigative work and got quite good at it, his team winning the Chairman's Award for Quality in 1993.

Marca's daughters, both adopted, were the world to him. He took great delight in coaching Juliana's softball team and Daniella's soccer team. His daughters' teammates loved him, as he stressed participation, rather than winning, and wasn't afraid to tell overzealous parents to cool it if they were stressing the kids.

Marca enjoyed the one-liners of Rodney Dangerfield and Henny Youngman and often traded punch lines with his daughters. .

He knew his way around the kitchen, too, and made a mean lasagna, but cream puffs were his specialty. Breakfasts were always a treat, and if Marca wasn't making pancakes, he often made Saturday morning doughnut runs.

A creative man, Marca wrote essays, poetry and short stories. He operated his own newspaper as a kid and often set up department newsletters. In recent years he operated the "Whispering Hope" Web site, which is filled with inspirational stories, Bible verses, letters and poetry.

Marca knew just about every hymn there was, and his favorite was Constantly Abiding. During his illness, the Desert Ridge Community Church supported the Marcas every way it could. A young member took her violin to the hospital and played hymns for Marca for two hours. Another member came to their home to sing for him.

One of the happiest days of his life was in 1985, when he got a call at work telling him that, at last, there was a beautiful baby girl ready to be adopted. There was a moment of silence then, as he shook his fists in the air and everyone realized what happened, the room broke into loud, sustained applause.

Marca is survived by his mother, Maria, of Phoenix; wife, Stella, of Phoenix; daughters Juliana and Daniella, both of Phoenix; and brothers Sal, of Carmichael, Calif., and John and Joe, both of Phoenix.