By Morris Schottenstein
It is with pride in our heritage of Columbus Jewry that I write this biographical piece on the Doctors Marks: Bessie Marks Baker, Lillian Marks Bloom and Jack Marks.
These three Columbus natives came from modest origins. Bessie was born in 1915, Lillian was born in 1917, and Jack was born in 1926. They were the children of Samuel and Luba Plotkin Marks. The family lived at 485 Carpenter Street, in one of the original sections of Jewish settlement. Carpenter Street was lined with brick and wooden homes that had the familiar front porches. It was easy to know one’s neighbors. Samuel Marks, who serviced Singer sewing machines in Russia, worked at Jeffery Manufacturing Company. Luba, who was a teacher in Russia, also worked. Samuel was an informally trained engineer and inventor. He was always tinkering and inventing devices. His employer, Jeffery Manufacturing Company, held several patents for his inventions. At one time, he converted an English typewriter into a Hebrew typewriter to the amazement of local experts.
Samuel and Luba Marks set a tone and direction for their children. The home environment was filled with music and learning. Samuel Marks loved opera and loved to study everything from physics to Talmud. The telling of jokes was also prized. Joke-telling provided welcome relief from more serious pursuits. Both parents loved learning and wanted their children to have the security and independence that professions provide. They felt very strongly about this having come from Imperial Russia where there was no security for Jews. Thus, they encouraged their children to excel in school and to aspire to careers in Medicine. Bessie, Lillian and Jack absorbed the ideals of their parents and followed the dreams that their parents had for them.
Lillian, the middle child, was the first to start on this path. She was an honor student at East High School. At one time, she thought of becoming a Latin teacher. Lillian went to school during the Great Depression. These were not times of hope and one had to have determination to succeed. Money and jobs were in short supply. She went to Ohio State University, lived at home, and took the streetcar early in the morning and late at night. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in biology with a grade point average of 3.97 (all A’s and one B in golf). She decided to apply to medical school. She found, however, that the policy at Ohio State was to accept only one Jewish woman every other year. Pursuant to this policy, no Jewish women were accepted the year of her undergraduate graduation; so she found that she would have to wait. During that year of waiting, she earned a Masters Degree in bacteriology (now microbiology). She was finally accepted to medical school and graduated from Ohio State in 1943. After graduation, she did her internship and residency in Pediatrics at Michael Reece and Cook County hospitals, respectively, in Chicago. She returned to Columbus and began work for the State of Ohio as the Director of the Ohio Department of Crippled Children. Slowly, she began to build her own medical practice. She found that acceptance into the medical community was difficult for women and particularly difficult for Jewish women. She maintained her own practice in pediatrics in Columbus from 1946 to 1992. During this time she treated hundreds of children and was known in the community as Doctor Marks. She also taught medicine and was appointed to an assistant professorship. Later she was promoted to Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at The Ohio State University. Lillian married Jack Bloom in 1954 and the couple has a son, Ted Bloom, a local attorney. Doctor Lillian Marks passed away in 1995.
Lillian’s older sister Bessie attended East High School where, like Lillian, she was a good student. Like Lillian, she was an achiever and was imbued with the same ethic that her home environment provided. In addition to science, Bessie excelled in the arts, literature, and philosophy. She entered Ohio State University where she was active in dramatics at Hillel. She received her Bachelor’s Degree, then a Master’s Degree and moved to New York to work in a laboratory. In New York she lived with a maternal Aunt, Mary Plotkin, who worked as a nurse. Bessie returned home and in 1944 was accepted into medical school at Ohio State. She graduated from medical school in 1948. In her last year of medical school, 1947, she married Herschel Baker. She became pregnant with their first child, Sam, and left her career early during her internship. She chose the life of a housewife and mother. She achieved the same goal as Lillian but did not practice medicine. Bessie and Herschel have three children: Samuel Baker, an attorney; Harriet Baker Levin, a school psychologist; and Elliot Baker, a physician. Bessie Passed away in 1993.
Jack was the baby of the family. He attended East High School where he played football. He was, in the Marks tradition, a good student. He graduated from East High School in 1944, whereupon he enlisted in the army and served in India during World War II. Upon discharge from the army, he attended Ohio State University as an undergraduate on the GI Bill. Upon undergraduate graduation, he attended the Ohio State University College of Medicine like his sisters before him. This was in the family tradition. There was mutual help in the family as one extended a hand to the other. Although a few years had passed since Lillian’s graduation from Medical School, Jack also encountered anti-Semitism. Upon checking an exam that had been returned, Jack found that a question had been incorrectly marked wrong. He went to the professor and asked that it be corrected. The professor told him not to worry because they "weren’t flunking any Jew-boys this year". Jack graduated from Medical School in 1953. He did his residency in Internal Medicine at Ohio State University where he was acting chief resident in his final year. After his residency, he practiced in Columbus from 1957 to 1999. Like Lillian he became an associate professor of Clinical Medicine at Ohio State. He was a respected Internist who was deeply admired by his patients. His wife, Joan, closed his practice in 1999 when he became ill; he died in 2000. Joan told me that when patients came to pick up their records, she saw this deeply-felt admiration; in fact, there was one grown man who cried. The couple has four children: Robert Marks, who is in the construction business; Stuart Marks who is a physician; Lisa Marks Dolin, who is a business executive and Andrew Marks, who is a CPA.
The Doctors Marks were pioneers for several reasons. They achieved in a profession that was not totally open to Jews. They also succeeded at a time in the history of the United States when the economy was not in a good condition. All three had to use every resource that was available, to the utmost. Finally, they were pathfinders, along with other contemporary Jewish physicians, who paved the way for future Jewish physicians. They did this by leaving a legacy of competence and commitment. More than one patient was known to have remarked that they chose to come to Doctor Marks because "everybody knew that Jewish doctors were the BEST". Indeed all three Doctors Marks contributed to that general reputation.
Morris Schottenstein, with the assistance of Ted Bloom and Joan Marks, Columbus, Ohio, 2007 for the archives of The Columbus Jewish Historical Society.
