MARK PROBST

PROBST--Mark.

Lawyer, stockbroker and novelist Mark Probst died peacefully in his Upper West Side apartment on February 11, 2018. He was 92 years old. The son of artist Frances Probst and lawyer and entrepreneur J. Anthony Probst, Mark grew up on Manhattan's upper east side and graduated from the Horace Mann School in June of 1944, within weeks of D-Day. He enlisted in the U. S. Army Air Corps for the remainder of the war and then matriculated at Harvard College, graduating in 1948. Mark went on to earn his JD degree at Columbia University School of Law. After serving as an Assistant District Attorney of New York County and on the Committee on Criminal Courts of the New York County Bar Association, Mark turned to finance. He joined the firm of White, Weld & Co. as a stockbroker in 1964, continuing there after the firm was taken over by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith in 1978, and by the time of his retirement in 2015 had given the firm more than 50 years of service. Mark's true love was literature, from Shakespeare to Auden, and he loved quoting them by the page. In 1989 he published a novel, "Winter Losses" that reflected his ear for language and gift for turning the increasingly fast-paced business world around him into compelling fictional narrative. The New York Times review praised an unusual mastery of craft--as far exceeding that of most first- time novelists--concluding, "There isn't a soft spot in this story. Mr. Probst, himself an attorney and financial consultant, has written a book that's as tough and tight as any business negotiation." Mark's wit was not confined to the page; he charmed all who knew him right up until the end. Mark, whose first marriage ended in divorce, married novelist Maureen Howard in 1981. An intrepid New Yorker, Mark loved re-discovering the city each day on his walks to and from work. He also enjoyed spending time in his house in Monterey Massachusetts. Mark is survived by his widow Maureen Howard Probst, sister writer Barbara Probst Solomon, daughter Elizabeth Probst and son Nicholas Probst, stepdaughter Loretta Howard and beloved nieces Carla Solomon and Maria Solomon, as well as three cherished grandchildren--Jack Probst, Katherine Howard- Fudge and Nicholas Howard- Fudge.