News

By Emily J. Minor

    MANALAPAN — Fred R. Marcon, the son of Italian immigrants who grew to great success in business, faith and family, died Jan. 19 in the Manalapan home he’d built for his wife, who died five years ago. He was 79.
    Mr. Marcon was more of a Northern guy, said his daughter Alison Conti. He loved the family’s other home in Fish Creek, Wis., and followed Chicago sports teams like the Bears and the Cubs.
    But once his wife, Natalie, fell in love with Florida — something she first did as a girl growing up in Miami and then again as her husband inched toward retirement and they started coming south — he obliged her love for the ocean and palm trees with a beautiful house on a beautiful lot, Conti said.
    “He really built this house for my mom,” she said.
    When Natalie Marcon died in the spring of 2012, the two had been married 49 years. And while Mr. Marcon was in fairly good health at the time, still enjoying golf and travel, he lost more than her companionship when their mother died, Conti said.
    He kind of lost the will to live.
    “When you lose your life partner, it’s hard to keep going,” Conti said. “He was just sad.”
    Born Feb. 22, 1937, on the South Side of Chicago, Mr. Marcon was the second-youngest of seven children, and the only boy.
    His family calls his life “a true American success story” and he came by hard work honestly. Mr. Marcon’s father spent 43 years with the George M. Pullman Co., and never took a sick day.
    After graduating from Chicago’s all-boys Mount Carmel High School, Mr. Marcon attended the Illinois Institute of Technology and joined the Illinois Inspection and Rating Bureau as a junior inspector.
    Various promotions eventually took the family to Flossmoor, a pretty Chicago suburb, where Mr. Marcon was very involved with the Infant Jesus of Prague parish as a lector and coach for the school’s baseball, football and basketball teams. His coaching had an effect on hundreds of young people’s lives.
    In 1977, another promotion took the family to Ridgewood, N.J., where he climbed the corporate ranks with Insurance Services Office, a risk-management firm. When Mr. Marcon retired in 2002, he was chairman and CEO of that company.
    Through the years, Mr. Marcon found great joy in philanthropy, said family members. He is survived by his five children and their families: Michael, of Alamo, Calif.; Tony, of San Francisco; Michelle, of Chicago; Alison, of Madison, N.H.; and Mark, of Loxahatchee. Ten grandchildren also survive him.
    Services were in Flossmoor, where Mr. Marcon was buried in the family plot. Memorial donations may be sent to the Men of Carmel Fund, Mount Carmel High School, 6410 S. Dante Ave., Chicago, IL 60637.
    In retirement, Mr. Marcon enjoyed his kids, his grandkids, church work — and armchair sports.
    Alison Conti said the family was happy he’d lived to see his beloved Cubs win the World Series. Indeed, Mr. Marcon was buried with his Cubs cap, she said.