Marvin Preston died peacefully at home in Princeton on September 30 with his family around him. Death was a result of a 10-year battle with primary progressive apraxia of speech. He bore the gradual disintegration of his body with great grace. His mind was intact until the end and he was so very grateful for the tremendous support of his family and his friends, who never abandoned him, even after he was unable to speak and lost most motor control over his body. When he could no longer come to them, they kept coming to him, bringing and sharing dinner and music on a regular basis.
Marvin was born on June 18, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan, to Marvin Preston III and Helen Hoppin Preston. Along with his older sister Joyce, he grew up in Ferndale, Michigan. In high school he discovered his musical talents and entrepreneurial spirit. Throughout high school, he enjoyed playing the French horn and piano, and also singing. He went with his high school to Interlochen Arts Academy for a week and fell in love with it. He dearly wanted to spend a summer there but his family could not afford it. Ever so driven and industrious, he worked in the kitchen at Interlochen scrubbing pots so that he could attend every concert he could, at least two a day and often more. He was a Detroit News paperboy for many years. Beginning in ninth grade, paperboys who had exceptional records of recruiting, servicing, and maintaining customers could earn money toward college scholarships. Marvin was awarded a $500 scholarship the first three years of high school, but as a senior he subcontracted part of his route to a friend in order to serve more customers. As a result, he was disqualified. He was accepted to CalTech but his parents refused to apply for financial aid. Nevertheless, he paid his own way to the University of Michigan by painting houses in the summer and working at different jobs on campus during the school year. In 1962, the year he started college, tuition at the University of Michigan was $260 a year. He graduated in 1966 with a degree in mathematics. He began a PhD program in physiology and worked as a computer programmer, first with punch cards and later with paper tape. But perhaps his most important achievement in Ann Arbor was meeting Candace Heussner, who was introduced to him by mutual friends in 1966. He was smitten from the start and not easily dissuaded, despite being stood up on his birthday. Candace, too, could not be dissuaded from falling for the brilliant and witty guy with a warm smile and a crown of flaming red hair, a characteristic for which he was bestowed the nickname “Rusty” by family and friends. It was also a shared upbringing in the Detroit area, values and vision for their futures that solidified them as a couple. They were married in Birmingham, Michigan, in January 1968.
With the Vietnam War raging, Marvin applied for a job with IBM Advanced Systems Development in Yorktown Heights, New York. Because it was a large military contractor, IBM was able to offer a deferment from military service. The interview for the job was in Yorktown Heights. Having no car, he had to fly or spend two days on a bus. The cheapest way he could do it was to use North Central Airlines (fondly referred to as “the Blue Goose”), a small regional airline with no non-stop flights that got him close to Yorktown Heights. The trip he took from Detroit to White Plains had five legs. Marvin always suffered from motion sickness and by the time he landed in White Plains, he was green. Alas, the taxi ride from White Plains to Yorktown Heights cost more than the plane ride. Nevertheless, he got the job. He always said it was the best first job anyone could have had. His boss, Al Gaines, was an inspiration to him long after he left IBM.
Marvin was happy working at IBM but the company would only request a military deferment for one year. After a year, Marvin left IBM and went to work for Ford Motor Company, also a major defense contractor. While there, the draft lottery was held, but thankfully the war ended before his number was reached.
In the midst of building a successful career, he took on another important and defining role in his life, becoming a father. Marvin and Candace welcomed their first child Catherine in 1973, and in 1976, Christopher would complete the family. With a playful spirit and a wish to provide his children a loving home, Marvin fell very naturally into fatherhood and being a most supportive parent with Candace by his side.
After leaving Ford, Marvin worked for Information Control Systems Omnitext, Inc., both start-up companies at the forefront of text editing, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Wall Street Journal, which adopted the Omnitext editor for computerized typesetting, was their first major client. To facilitate editing, Marvin and a colleague developed the first cursor for computer screens and were jointly awarded the patent for it. While they received the patents, the rights went to the company. They called it a cursor because the original was shaped and acted like a fist shaking at you.
As computers rapidly replaced even the most advanced typewriters, Marvin joined Micro Office Systems, Inc. Micro Office Systems was ahead of its time. It produced the first notebook-sized portable computer in 1985. The market wasn’t ready for it and the company soon folded.
After that Marvin founded his own company, NewMarkets, Inc. NewMarkets was a specialized consulting firm that focused on start-up or rescue operations for companies with innovative technology products. Inevitably, when clients realized the depth and breadth of their problems, they asked him to join the company as CEO. That was the case with Scott Instruments Corporation. Scott Instruments was one of the early leaders in speech recognition technology. While at Scott, the company was the first to commercialize speech recognition across telephone lines. The company was ultimately sold to Philips.
Marvin’s experience with speech recognition brought him to Healthtech Services Corporation, which pioneered the use of speech recognition and computers for home health care through the robot, HANC (Home Assisted Nursing Care). HANC was the first commercial telemedicine robot that responded to patient queries and dispensed medicine on command and in accordance with approved schedule. If the patient needed medical assistance, HANC would call the doctor, nurse, or emergency service for them and a telemedicine visit would take place. HANC was adopted by hospitals and became the basis for many further home health applications.
Throughout his life, Marvin was devoted to serving the community. He was the president of Carnegie Lake Rowing Association for 10 years; stepping down only when work travel did not permit him to participate as much as was needed. He also served on the board of Young Audiences and Opera New Jersey and sang with Princeton Pro Musica. For the last 40 years of his life, he would be a well-regarded, highly respected and very recognizable fixture in the Princeton community. For years, he could be seen zipping around town in his red Miata convertible and regularly picking up a cup of coffee at Small World Coffee.
An outgrowth of his service in arts organizations and his reputation as a problem solver was his rescue of the Martha Graham Dance Company. In the 10 years following her death, under the leadership of her former protégé, there was a decline in the Dance Company until it suspended operations as the protégé asserted ownership of all her dances, technique, and name. In 2000 Marvin was hired by the trustees as executive director to save the Company. Battles ensued over who would head the Company (Marvin prevailed) and who owned the intellectual property. In 2002, following the first of several favorable, landmark rulings, the Company resumed dancing under his leadership. Over the course of four years of intense litigation in two phases, he discovered and delivered the evidence that proved that the Company, not the protégé, owned the intellectual property.
Because of his success with the Martha Graham Dance Company, the New York Attorney General, whose office oversees all not-for-profit organizations in New York, sought him out and asked him to untangle the legal problems at New Dance Group and guide it through bankruptcy and dissolution.
By then, firmly entrenched in the dance world, Marvin finished his professional career as the executive director of American Repertory Ballet and the Princeton Ballet School.
Throughout his career and many professional achievements, his most rewarding time was as a husband and a father. Some of Marvin’s fondest memories were construction projects that he did with each of them. He and Catherine built a swing set from scratch, including a balance beam which became a favorite bee colony. And as a passionate renovator of houses that he and Candace could always recognize as diamonds in the rough, Marvin and Chris bonded over breaking a foundation and tearing down a garage at their home on Prospect. He reveled in the skiing and biking vacations that the family took together in the United States around the world. But by far his most memorable vacation with them was the one the children, ages 12 and 9, planned on a fixed budget and forgot to include the cost of overnight accommodations. Just prior to departure, they realized that and borrowed tents and equipment from Chris’s Cub Scout troop to make the trip possible. He beamed with pride at their resourcefulness. He rejoiced in watching them grow and mature into the wonderful adults they are now. He would extend this love of shared experiences and travels with his grandchildren, Lauren and Ming. Among many trips to visit them in California, he enjoyed camping trips to Acadia and Ojai with them. Over the years, he took great pleasure in building LEGO towers that went from floor to ceiling, playing in the park, and guiding them through repairs they could make around the house.
Marvin is survived by his wife of 56 years, Candace; his daughter Catherine and son-in-law Kevin Connolly of Cambridge, Massachusetts; and his son Christopher and daughter-in-law Angela and their two children, Lauren and Ming of Encino, California. He is also survived by his sister Joyce Preston of Lansing, Michigan. He will be missed by all, but lives forever in their hearts.
A memorial service will follow at a later date. In lieu of flowers, gifts in memory of Marvin may be sent to: Neurodegenerative Research Group’s PPAOS (Primary Progressive Apraxia of Speech) Studies at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota (855-852-8129) or Princeton Pro Musica.
Arrangements are under the direction of The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home.
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