Thursday, June 10, 2021
I had the pleasure of getting to know Mark in the late 1980s when I was a reporter at The Ocean City Sentinel Ledger. Mark had a column in the paper, which he hand delivered to the office each week, so I got to see him often.
The first story I did for the paper was covering one of his many crazy creations: the Miss Crustacean Pageant, where I also met a star from his cast of characters, Martin Z Mollusk. Martin was third only to Trash Buster, and the Doo-Dah Parade on the list of all-time memorable Soifer creations.
Mark was always in good humor. He was the kind person who naturally put others at ease by not taking himself too seriously. It was a while before I came to know that there was much more to Mark than a crazy collection of characters. The more time I spent with him, the more I realized that his brilliant imagination was just one of many gifts. Mark was also a published poet, short story writer, and a distance runner.
Mostly though, I will remember him as a kind and loving soul who spread joy everywhere he went.
