Remembering Marvin Marshak

1946-2026

Professor Marvin Marshak passed away on April 2, 2026 at the age of 80.  Marshak was a member of the physics faculty at the University of Minnesota for over fifty years and he made, according to colleague Professor Greg Pawloski, "a profound impact on the field of experimental particle physics." He was remembered at a memorial service in April where friends, colleagues and students paid tribute to him. These tributes can be found at the end of this article. 

Marvin L. Marshak was born in March of 1946 in Buffalo, New York, the middle child of three sons. His youthful hobbies, which included making home-made rockets, led him to become a finalist at age 16 in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. He attended Cornell University for his undergraduate degree and the University of Michigan for his advanced degrees, obtaining his Ph.D. in 1970. 

Shortly after arriving in Minnesota to take a position as a Research Associate in 1970, Marvin went on a blind date with Anita Sue Kolman. The couple were married for almost 54 years, had two children, Rachel and Adam, and eight grandchildren. 

Marshak became a member of the faculty in 1974. He was promoted to full professor in 1983 and remained in that position until his death in April of 2026. He became a Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Physics in 1996.

Marshak was a faculty liaison to the Minnesota legislature for many years and played an important role in bringing investments, both private and government, to the University of Minnesota campus. Later, he participated in the management of the University’s reorganization of its biological sciences programs and the $225 million sale of the University Hospital. 

Marshak served as Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy from 1986 to 1996, a period that saw tremendous growth in the School. Marshak took swift action, with the backing of private wealth from the community, to secure theorists emigrating from the former Soviet Union to form the Theoretical Physics Institute (Later, the Fine Theoretical Physics Institute). He also raised approximately $0.5 million to endow the Abigail and John Van Vleck Lectureship in Physics, which has attracted nearly 20 Nobel-laureate lecturers. With increased faculty, graduate students and teaching staff, and with budgets that far exceeded the dreams of his predecessors, Marshak took the School from the post Space Race lull to local experimental efforts in his own field of particle physics as well as the fields of magnetic and superconducting materials. 

Marshak also served as Director of Graduate Studies from 1983-1986 and held many service positions elsewhere in the University, including Faculty Director of Undergraduate Research, VP for Academic Affairs and Director of the Residential College. 

In addition to Marshak’s high profile as a researcher and academic, he was always accessible to his students and could often be found chatting with and handing out soda to undergraduates at his “office” – usually a table at the cafe in the University Rec Center near his beloved racquetball courts. He was active in outreach beyond the University, serving as a Visiting Scientist in K-12 schools, principally in a program sponsored by the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Blanding Foundation.