Obituary of Erwin Marquit

Marquit, Erwin Passed away peacefully on February 19, at his home in Minneapolis, at the age of 88. Erwin was born in 1926 in New York City, and was an alumnus of City College. He lived in Poland as a refugee from McCarthyism from 1951-1963, where he received his doctorate in Physics from the University of Warsaw. He was a Professor of Physics at the University of Minnesota from 1966 until his retirement, where he also created and taught the Introduction to Marxism course for many years. A lifelong Communist, he was a proud member of the CPUSA and was founder and editor of the Marxist Educational Press, which published over 35 books and the journal Nature, Society and Thought. In 1974 he ran for Governor of Minnesota on the Communist Party ticket. In the course of his career he worked at many prestigious institutions, including the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen and the Academy of Sciences in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), where he had a long-term affiliation. He traveled the world with his wife of 46 years, Doris Greiser Marquit, and together they fought for peace, justice and socialism until her death last May. He will be missed by all of us who loved him and admired his integrity, his intelligence, and his commitment. He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Carl Marquit and Mindy Mitnick; two stepchildren, Lili and Oskar Eustis; Oskar's wife, Laurie; step-grandchildren Sarah Croud, Maggie Petersen, Kyle Brown, and a step-great-grandchild, Noelani Croud.