Dr. Mark Linenthal Jr.

Still miss dear Mark. We met in Addis Ababa when we were with Peace Corps there, and renewed our friendship in Washington, DC and again in California and Oregon. We talked on the phone up until the day he died and I think of him often. My grandson worked with him briefly after he graduated law school at Hastings in S.F. Many fond memories also of visiting up in the Sierras at their cabin.

I graduated from SFSU in 1976. Mark was my advisor. I knew nothing about his history, his work, his anything when I was there. Too busy caught up in my own craziness, I suppose. But he was very supportive and gave me much encouragement. All these years later I still remember him.

It was the late 1980's and I was a bored and wayward film production major trapped inside of SFSU's undergrad film program. Intent on breaking out of the narcissistic, suffocating and grandiloquent world of "the visual arts", I went in search of something more inspirational, authentic, and elemental to my own creative life at that time, and by chance, I found Dr. Mark Linenthal, Jr.

On something of a whim, or lark if you will, I enrolled in a class taught by Anatole Anton and Dr. Mark...

I didn't realize that Mr. Linenthal had passed away until I Googled him. He had a big influence on my life. He came to my high school (Skyline in Oakland) Creative Writing class (taught by Mrs. June Stark Casey) about 45 years ago. He listened to some of the class's poetry. He listened to a poem of mine that I read and he applauded at the end. Mine was the only poem he applauded. I was so proud of myself and felt so honored. It was one of the special moments of my life. I later...

Mark and Alice were our next door neighbors in Menlo Park in the 50's. Mark taught a Great Books course which I attended and loved. He was a great teacher even then and a wonderful father. We took the kids to the park and pushed them in the swings. Peter and my daughter Molly were devoted playmates. I loved hearing his tales of being shot down and imprisoned by the Germans just listening to him talk was always a pleasure.

Lovely poem! I was there at SFState for the Summer of Love and took poetry writing from him along with 4 dance classes after I graduated--until the university shut down, bringing in the troops and a new president!! I had participated in the sit-in at the administration bldg and demonstrating against the war (and football :-)) as well as the Free University. Wonderful memories of a unique time in history! Que descanse en paz, Mark! Cheryl Burges (Henderson) Bonilla

Mark was my boss at the Poetry Center, an MA thesis supervisor, my teacher, and a wonderful friend. What splendid meals, wines and times we shared. He and Frances stayed with us twice in Spain. He made being an intellectual, a thinker, something infinitely pleasurable with his unique gift of holding the thought and saturating it in the bounty of his mentation and appreciation. I can see and hear him now and there is a brightness.
Everyone felt the genuine splendor of him. From him I...