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By Karen Pearlman
January 8, 2022 (Alpine) -- Jeff Marcus, an Alpine resident, was one of thousands who died from COVID-19 related issues in 2021.
An entertainer for more than four decades, Marcus's career as a magician, clown and hypnotist was stalled starting in the spring of 2020 when he was unable to perform in front crowds during the pandemic.
In mid-December of 2020, Marcus, 67, traveled to Ohio with his wife to see her children and grandchildren. There, he contracted COVID-19, was hospitalized on Dec. 31, and he passed away on Jan. 18, 2021, in a hospital in Toledo.
Marcus started holding magic shows for his suburban Chicago-area family and friends when he was a child, and eventually spent 40 years in the entertainment business in Southern California.
Marcus, who mastered the art of stealing watches as a magic trick, was also a practicing hypnotist and professional clown who performed at local events like the Mother Goose Parade as well as private and corporate events, regularly wowing crowds at the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld and the Del Mar Fair over the years.
His wife, Peg Marcus said her husband was a big man who had sleep apnea and was pre-diabetic, but other than that, he had no other health complications.
Jeff and Peg Marcus's longtime friend, magician Jeff Jay Smith, who lives in Indiana, attended a celebration of life for Jeff Marcus last summer.
“Jeff was one of those guys who would do magic for anyone at anytime, even if it was for a waitress at Denny’s at 3 a.m.,” Smith said. “Jeff had an encyclopedic knowledge of magic with a reverence for the old timers and patience for newcomers. I had done magic as a young child and when I picked it up again as an adult, he encouraged me, gave me guidance and helped me become a professional magician myself.”
Jeffrey Kimball Marcus was born Oct. 30, 1953, in Midland, Mich., to Stanley Allen Marcus and Beverle Fern (Horwitz) Miller. He moved to Chicago with his mother when he was 2. Years later, he moved to San Diego in January 1974 to major in telecommunications at San Diego State University.
While attending SDSU, he met his first wife, Sheila Albee, and the two married in 1979. Following a divorce, he married Peggy Ellen Mosley in 1989, and became a stepfather to Peggy Marcus’s three children. The two lived in Santee for nearly 30 years, then moved to Alpine in 2016.
Marcus was a longtime member of Hollywood’s Magic Castle and the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM) Ring 76. He was also the Territorial Vice President of IBM. His friend Smith said that Marcus liked to travel every summer for the annual Magic Festival in Colon, Mich., known as the “Magic Capital of the World.
Locally, fellow entertainers were also saddened by the loss of their colleague.
“Jeff was a true professional and always a presence as a stand-up performer,” said magician Dana Law of El Cajon. “He did a lot of corporate work and was extremely talented. And he was such a nice man.”
Marcus was preceded in death by his father, Stanley Marcus, and leaves behind his mother, Beverle Miller; brother, Mark Miller; sister, Jennifer Marcus (Rajnik Raab); wife, Peg; stepchildren Dawn Burnett (Mike Birky), Dashelle Cranker (Mark) and Stan Applegate; six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; two nephews and one niece.
Marcus’s funeral was held on Jan. 25, 2021. He was buried near his father at Westlawn Cemetery in suburban Chicago.
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