Charles Mark

1923 - 2020

Charles Mark

South Deerfield, MA - Three years ago, on April 13, 2020, Charles Mark, of South Deerfield, died at home, at age 97, from multiple medical complications. Born Václav Suchy on March 1, 1923, in Prague, he was the eldest son of the late Václav Suchy and Lúdmila Suchomelová. Charles' childhood and teen years were spent in Prague, in Pilsen, his father's birthplace, and in Tabor, his mother's birthplace, all in Bohemia. His education was interrupted by World War Two, which included the invasion of Czechoslovakia on March 15, 1939 and a long period of political crisis and social upheaval. During the war Charles spent a year in a compulsory labor camp in Vienna. After the war, he resumed his studies, completing a doctorate in sociology in 1949 at Charles University in Prague, with a thesis on John Stuart Mill. In May 1950, Charles escaped over the closed western Czech border to Germany, hoping to emigrate to the United States to launch a career as a sociologist. As post-war quotas limited the number of places available for entry into the US, in 1951 he emigrated to New Zealand, where he would change his Czech birthname into his English name. Working initially as a translator for central European post-war refugees on a hydraulic dam project in the South Island, he moved to Dunedin, where he met his future wife, Paula F. Rathbone, at the University of Otago.

Charles and Paula married in December 1952 and in late 1954 he, his wife and daughter Vera arrived in the US, living first on the north shore of Long Island. Second daughter Judith was born the following spring and the family moved to the south shore. Charles took small jobs before obtaining a full-time position as a teacher of French and German, both of which he spoke fluently, at Amityville High School. His students often obtained outstanding results in these two languages on the New York State Regents exams. After temporary teaching positions in sociology at Queens College, Rider College and SUNY-Oswego, in 1971 Charles transitioned to a full-time position in the Sociology and Anthropology department at North Adams State College (NASC), now the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA). Charles taught a range of courses for the next fifteen years, taking a particular interest in what he developed as a "sociology of the Third World." He also served as Department Chair. He attended the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association and published numerous book reviews in its academic journals, as well as a research guide to the field of American sociology, co-authored with his wife.

Traveling to many countries in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia throughout the late 1960s and the 1970s, always on a shoestring, even circling the globe during one year-long trip, Charles continued this passion after his 1986 retirement. He began to undertake yearly trips to Prague and renewed his ties to his first language, Czech, and to his alma mater, Charles University. He took up study of Mandarin Chinese, wrote his memoirs and composed poetry, which he self-published. A devoted follower of Democracy Now! the independent global news program, Charles saw himself as a citizen of the world. He loved the beauty of New England in all seasons and its forests, in which he enjoyed long walks and was most at peace. They reminded him of the beloved forests of his childhood in Bohemia and of the Tatra mountains in particular, one of his favorite places to visit.

Charles was predeceased by his wife of 65 years, Paula, in late 2018, and by his brother, his sister, their spouses, his parents and his brother-in-law. At the time of his death, he was survived by his two daughters, his son-in-law, four grandchildren, a grand-niece and her family, a great-grandson, additional relatives in the Czech Republic, and relatives through marriage in New Zealand. On this third anniversary of his death, Charles' support for education and global awareness through the study of foreign languages and cultures is remembered by his surviving family members and former colleagues.