Andrea Marek

Andrea Marek, 67, a long-time Bay Area resident, passed away on April 1, 2023 after a long and courageous battle with cancer. She was born in Giessen, Germany, on February 19, 1956, and came to the United States in 1974 shortly after marrying her husband, James R. Marek, then a soldier in the US Army. After traveling the world at her husband's side during his military career, while raising three daughters, she obtained a teaching credential and a B.A. degree from the University of the Pacific in 1992. She began her career as a teacher at the San Francisco Waldorf School. Known to many in Vallejo as "Frau Marek" (or affectionately as just "Frau"), she taught German and career education at Hogan High School from 1996 through 2009. At Hogan High School, she was department chair of world languages and pioneered use of smartboard technology and experiential learning to enrich language instruction. She broadened the horizons of scores of local high school students by organizing regular student exchange visits with a partner school in Germany under the auspices of the German American Partnership Program. From 2009 through 2017, she taught German at Northgate High School in Walnut Creek and continued organizing student exchanges. She helped train other foreign language teachers as a "Netzwerktrainer" for the Goethe Institute and received several awards for teaching excellence, including the Duden Award (2006). As a teacher of German language, history, and culture, she cared deeply about Holocaust awareness, inviting Holocaust survivors to speak with her students. Andrea was a supporter of the Stolpersteine project (www.stolpersteine.eu), which installs bronze plaques in memory of Holocaust victims. After her retirement from teaching, Andrea obtained certification as a tour director from the International Tour Management Institute and dove into sharing her love for, and knowledge about, San Francisco and our national parks. Between rounds of chemotherapy in recent years, she served as a docent for the Santa Monica Conservancy and participated in the docent training program at Holocaust Museum LA. Always planning her next adventure with boundless energy, Andrea adored skiing black-diamond slopes in Tahoe, France, Austria and Switzerland, hiking through quiet forests, marveling at the steep waterfalls of Yosemite Valley, and peering into tide pools with her children and grandchildren as much as she enjoyed seeing the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. In addition, Andrea was an ardent supporter of public transportation and managed to find her way around major cities all over the world by train, subway, streetcar or bus, including in Berlin, New York, Frankfurt, Paris, Seoul and Munich. When at home, she tended a garden in which many colorful and fragrant flowers as well as several fruit trees flourished. She was a life-long learner, always eager to share if she'd read a good book. She is survived by her husband of 48 years, James Marek; their daughters: Rebecca Hoskins, Jessica Marek, and Veronica Marek; their son-in law Nilay Vora; their grandchildren: Isabella Hoskins, Shanta and Anand Vora, Augustina Apodaca; and her siblings: Dr. Wolfgang Bock, Karoline Martin, Anne-Christine Kaiser and Ingrid Gehre-Bock.Donations in her memory can be made to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (www.bcrf.org), the Scholarship Fund of the German American Partnership Program (www.PayPal.com/fundraiser/charity/179660) or the Holocaust Museum LA (www.holocaustmuseumla.org/tribute-giving).