Stephen Marcus: Who Is Gregory S. Marcus Father?

Fifty years in movies. Fifty years in hotels.

It has a nice ring to it, a little bit Hollywood, a little bit Milwaukee.

But that doesn’t tell the whole story of Steve Marcus, who in January 1962 joined the firm his father founded.

He’s 77 now, chairman of the board of Marcus Corp., and the central link in a three-generation story of family and business, entertainment, and lodging.

“My job now is to stay out of the way,” he says, underplaying his role as a wise counselor for a company that has weathered all kinds of economic conditions. He sits in a conference room, dressed in a jacket and tie even on a day when the temperature soars into the 90s.

A few feet away, just beyond glass doors, Marcus’ oldest son, Greg, works as the president and chief executive officer. The corporation owns or manages 694 movie screens at theaters in seven states – the sixth-largest circuit in the country – as well as 18 hotels and resorts in nine states, including the Pfister and Hilton Milwaukee City Center.

And near Marcus is a photo of his dad, Ben, the tough, legendary Polish-Jewish immigrant entrepreneur who died in 2000. It was Ben who opened his first movie theater in Ripon in 1935, and then built the company a theater and a hotel at a time.

Stephen Marcus: Who Is Gregory S. Marcus’s Father?

Steve Marcus 77 now, chairman of the board of Marcus Corp., and the central link in a three-generation story of family and business, entertainment, and lodging.