Michael N. DeMarco, 78, died Monday, Dec. 29, at the University Medical Center at Princeton.
Born in Orange, he lived in Little Fall, then South Orange for 20 years and Point Pleasant for 16 years before moving to Monroe in 1984. He received his undergraduate degree from Upsala College in East Orange, then his graduate degrees in chemistry and biology from the University of Oregon.
He later received a government Health Services grant to study yeast cells at the Illinois Institute of Technology with Dr. Leslie Hedrick, a foremost yeast cell authority. He had a 35-year career as a high school teacher, primarily in biology, at Wallington High School, North Arlington High School and for 33 years at Columbia High School in South Orange and Maplewood. He retired in 1982.
He served in the US Navy during World War II and received training as an X-ray technician, which he used in a brief career at Newark City Hospital before beginning his college studies. He started a small construction company in the 1960s concentrating mainly in renovations and rehabilitation, which he worked for over 30 years.
He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Vera (Zakaluk); a daughter and her husband, Ruth and Dominic Conti of Paramus; a son and his wife, David and Paula of Monroe; a brother and his wife, Mathew and Ellie of Succasunna; five grandchildren, Michael, Dominique, Angela, Thomas and Jennifer; and a great-grandson, Andre.
Funeral services were held Monday, Jan. 5, at the First Baptist Church of Jamesburg, Half Acre Road. Internment will follow in Old Tennent Cemetery, Manalapan. Contributions may be made to either the First Baptist Church of Jamesburg, 15 Half Acre Road, Jamesburg, N.J. 08831 or the Slavic Missionary Services, Inc., P.O. Box 307 South River, N.J. 08882.
