Robert Marcus

Biography

Having enjoyed careers as a premier personal injury attorney of the region, a leading Indiana area auto dealer, a devoted local historic preservationist and stalwart for the economic advancement of our community, Robert Marcus is being inducted into the Indiana County Business Hall of Fame.

Marcus's simultaneous careers in law and car sales began with early training for both. He graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy prep school then earned degrees from Syracuse University and the University of San Diego School of Law, but also was educated in the Chrysler Dealership Training School in Detroit.

One of his earliest professional legal associations was as an officer of Professional Athletic Services, a sports agency where he represented Major League Baseball hall-of-famer Tony Gwynn, Pitt Panther/Pittsburgh Steeler Emil Boures, and boxer Muhammad Ali.

Marcus represented the inventor of the Hunter Rotary Drilling Head to obtain a patent for the device, and became part-owner of HMM Enterprises for 30 years to market the device to natural gas drilling companies.

Robert Marcus returned to Indiana in 1977 and took over management of his father's McGregor Motors Dodge AMC dealership. He bought the company in 1982, added the Jeep franchise from Indiana Sales & Service, and later bought the Chrysler Plymouth lines from Indian Springs Motors to form McGregor Dodge Jeep Chrysler Plymouth on North Fourth Street. He sold the robust car business in 2007 to Tri-Star.

About the same time, Marcus and fellow fledgling attorney Greg Olson moved on from serving as law clerks for Indiana County judges Earl Handler and Robert Earley to form their law partnership at 923 Philadelphia Street.

Marcus bought and restored the Army-Navy Store at 555 Philadelphia and moved his growing law office there after Olson departed to serve as Indiana County District Attorney. Marcus then bought and renovated James Mitchell House at 57 South Sixth Street. Olson rejoined Marcus as their law firm moved to Mitchell House, and continued to grow with the addition of Jonathan Mack.

The law firm lineup evolved. Greg Olson left once more to become a county judge, Bryan Neiderhiser joined the firm in 2006, Mack retired in 2018, and Russell Bopp and Bradley Holuta came on board in 2018. The Marcus and Mack law office thrives to this day, specializing in personal injury with a growing a client base in more than a dozen west-central Pennsylvania counties. With four attorneys and 13 support workers on staff, Marcus and Mack also operates offices in Johnstown, Altoona, State College and Dubois.

Robert Marcus also focused on real estate development and job creation. As a partner in the Marcus family-owned Demro Real Estate company, he purchased the North Fourth Street Plaza in 1978 and built the home for the first Rite-Aid Drug Store in Indiana. With business partners Wayne Gorell and Mark Golinsky in 1982, he built the Indiana Racquet Club racquetball court on Warren Road in White Township. They soon merged the club with a competitor, The Supreme Court.

From 2007 to 2014, Marcus served on the three-member Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. During his tenure, the agency's annual revenue grew from $1.5 billion to $2.2 billion.

As a board member and chairman of Apangea Learning, a locally-formed online mathematics curriculum and education company, Marcus oversaw its growth from $3 million a year to $35 million in annual revenue.

Marcus's dedication to community service has included his support of United Way, the Downtown Indiana Façade Committee, Citizens' Ambulance Service, the Center for Family Life, White Township Recreation, the Indiana 2000 project and many other organizations. Chiefly, his service on behalf of our economic prosperity began with his election to the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce board in the 1990s. Marcus led the School to Work Committee, the CONSOL Dislocated Miners Transition Team, the Working Together Forum and served several years on the executive committee and a term as chairman of the board.

In 1999, Robert Marcus partnered with Indiana University of Pennsylvania, National Bank of the Commonwealth and researchers Donna Cashdollar, Sonya Barclay and Irwin Marcus to curate a historical retrospective, The Jewish Business Community of Downtown Indiana, a celebration of what Marcus called "the Golden Age of Jewish merchants" in our community.

In recognition of his tireless efforts for the improvement of the greater Indiana area, Marcus was named the Civic Leader of the Year in 2001.

The Indiana County Chamber of Commerce today presents Robert S. Marcus in the Class of 2023 of the Indiana County Business Hall of Fame.