Charles Marek

On November 12th, my father, Charles F. Marek, passed away. When I was younger, I knew your relationship with him by one of three names.

First, Dr. Marek was the name I heard most often when we were out. He had graduated Dental School from Case Western Reserve in 1968, immediately entering the Navy as a Dentist stationed in Memphis, Tennessee where he worked on sailors who were going to Vietnam. After being honorably discharged in 1970, he opened a dental practice in Strongsville, Ohio. After four years, he decided the Ohio summers were too short, took the Florida Boards and he and his wife Margaret moved to Sarasota, Florida. In 1974 he opened his second dental practice on Siesta Key at the corner of Beach Road and Midnight Pass Road, next to the fire station that is still there today. Eventually, he moved his practice to Stickney Pt. Road and opened another one in Englewood, Florida. Over five decades he met the needs of thousands of Gulf Coast patients. He worked until
2014.

Charles was the name I heard from his family. Charles Farrell Marek was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1944 to parents, Larry and Jean Marek with younger brother, James, following. He graduated from Miami University, attended Case Western Reserve where he met my mother, Margaret Marek, They were married in 1967. Although they lived initially in Cleveland, they moved to Siesta Key where I was born in 1974 and my sister Leigh was born in 1979. In the 80's we lived on Commonwealth Place with a boat on the Grand Canal that my father loved to fish and entertain. In 2010 he and my mother retired to Placida before moving to Longwood, Florida to be near their grandson, Evan Koepp.

Chuck was the name I heard from my dad's friends. When you were a friend of my Dad's, I knew you enjoyed life the same way he did: the beach, a couple of drinks with some old Buffett songs and a sunset would be a perfect day. He loved the Gulf Coast community and was a constant advocate for it.

At home, he was Dad. He loved my Mother, my Sister, his Grandson and me. We could not have been luckier to have had him, and we will always love him. --Bart Marek