It’s been more than two decades since former television sportscaster Kevin Marks signed off the air for the last time, but as friends and former colleagues mourn his death this week, the impact Marks left on their lives will be felt for a long, long time.
Marks, who joined Barrie's CKVR in the early 1980s, died in his sleep at his Tiny Township home on Tuesday, Feb. 22.
He was 64 years old.
Marks was also the sports director of MCTV North Bay for three years in the 1980s, sharing the 6 p.m. MCTV News broadcast with news anchor Jeff Turl. He was a popular figure in the Oak St. newsroom, known for his sense of humour and knowledge of sports.
His son, Brian Marks, told BarrieToday the family has requested an autopsy to confirm the official cause of death. He said his father had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease around 2015.
See the full obituary here.
A well-known television personality in Barrie, Kevin left television in the late 1990s and then spent a few years working in radio, said his son, but officially retired two years ago after working for a few years at the Bayfield Street LCBO in north-end Barrie.
Brian said there’s nothing he won’t miss about his father, describing his dad as incredibly quick-witted and always being the funniest guy at the party.
“He was somehow gentle and masculine at the same time. He wasn’t much of a handyman, but he could certainly play golf and other sports,” said Brian, who admitted their love of sports was definitely something that helped him and his brother, Sean, bond with their father during their childhood and beyond.
Brian says the best times of his life were spent hanging out with his dad and their extended family at his uncle’s house.
“When we were all together, the laughter was never louder,” he said, adding what people saw on television was the same guy Kevin was at home. “When he was doing news on the radio, it wouldn’t be 'assailant,' it would be 'weasel.' He would use words that nobody else used, because that’s how he talked in real life.”
His broadcasting career took him to Lethbridge, Alta., and North Bay, Ont., before settling in Barrie at CKVR and later as the morning newsman on KOOL FM
George Bryson, who was one of Kevin’s oldest friends and broadcast colleagues, said Kevin's death is a horrible loss for everybody who knew him.
“We worked together for a few weeks and we decided one night to go out for a beer and wings after work. We just started bonding on Thursday nights. … We used to call it SLOTH — Sipping Lagers on Thursdays Happily,” Bryson recalled of the beginning of their long friendship, which spanned more than 40 years. “He just became a very close and dear friend.”
There’s a phrase often used to describe people, which easily fits his friend, Bryson added.
“It’s that they were bigger than life, and he really was. He’d walk in a room and everybody would gravitate towards him, because no matter where you were, he was the funniest guy in the room. But he also had the biggest heart,” Bryson said. “Anybody that was a friend of his knew they were very important to him.”
While there were many things that were important in Kevin’s life — good friends, golf, cold beer and the Toronto Maple Leafs, to name just a few — nothing was more important than his family, Bryson acknowledged.
“He grew up in a very tight, close family" in Toronto's Leaside neighbourhood with his two brothers, sister and his dad. "They were more good friends than family… out on the golf course, watching the Masters, having a shot of Irish whiskey… and that was what was most important to him was his family,” he said.
“He was the consummate family man," Bryson added. "His two boys and his wife (Ellen) were the most important thing in his life and he cherished them very dearly.”
Bryson said the loss of his friend is going to leave a big hole in his life, and he will miss laughing together.
“We never got together where we didn’t just laugh our asses off. It would be over, anything would just end up howling,” he recalled emotionally. “He was the funniest man I’ve ever known in my life and truly one of the most caring.
"I can’t believe he’s gone.”
Former CKVR cameraman and union president Jim Holmes, who had known Kevin since 1984, told BarrieToday he was a man with a great heart who always made everyone feel welcome and, most importantly, laugh.
“Kevin was the funniest person you’d ever meet. He’d walk into a room and he just held the room in his hands. With my son, and with other kids, he was like their naughty uncle. He told the most bizarre jokes,” said Holmes, adding news of Kevin’s death was “heartbreaking.”
“My wife passed away just over a year ago, so I am in this overwhelming avalanche of death. … To hear this of Kevin, although I know he was battling Parkinson’s, he always seemed OK,” he added.
Holmes said Kevin was proud of his time as a local TV personality and the forum it gave him to shine a spotlight on his community, as well as to serve as a mentor for young newscasters.
“CKVR was a training ground and anybody who came in he’d gladly help them improve and get better so that they could move on to bigger things," Holmes said.
Despite not getting to spend as much time with his old friend and colleague in recent years, Holmes values every moment they did get to spend together, telling BarrieToday his life will be better having had Kevin in it.
“There will be a hole left in my heart, because we spent so many days and so many hours together. He will be so sadly missed.”
Former CKVR videographer and host Don Wright said Kevin was "very much loved" by viewers and co-workers alike.
"I worked with Kevin for years. He was always a positive influence for the newsroom," Wright said. "He had a kind sense of humour that not only was enjoyed and loved by all of us who were lucky enough to work with him, but the viewers felt it as well.
"He had a way of talking through the screen to them," Wright added. "He was a really great guy."
Wright recalls covering the World Series-winning Toronto Blue Jays in the early 1990s alongside Kevin.
"He was very good at being calm when craziness was going on," Wright said. "He was a great influence on my career. He was the type (of person) you aspired to emulate."
Wright also remembers covering a "fun shoot" when the first bungee jump came to Wasaga Beach.
"He was fearless," Wright said. "He was the first guy I ever saw do that. He was a guiding light for many of us young guns."
Mike Arksey first met Kevin while working in sales rep for Molsons in the 1980s. The pair immediately hit it off.
“When you’re a Molson rep and doing a lot of promotions in the community, you need your media ties to be supportive of your events. He was one of the guys I spent the most time with,” said Arksey, who recalled an ice-fishing derby where the two came close to reeling in a big catch on air. “We caught this huge fish… well, we almost caught it, but it was the one that got away. He was so excited when we were trying to pull this fish up.”
Kevin saw humour in just about everything, said Arksey, describing his friend as having an “eclectic, strange and somewhat offbeat” sense of humour.
“He would go to a golf tournament and be the MC… and start off the dinner with O Canada and he would play it on his head. It was amazing and you could hear the tune just from the percussion. He was a great entertainer, a very sincere guy and a very good media guy,” Arksey said. “I owe him a lot. He was just a really great guy and a good friend.”
Gene Pereira came to Barrie as a sports reporter in 1991, at which time Kevin was already recognized as "the guy" when it came to local sports.
"He was a sports guy through and through. When I got there, everyone knew him," said Pereira, who went on to become sports editor at the now-defunct Barrie Examiner in 1997.
The two would often cross paths at a variety of local sporting events.
"He worked really hard and was very good at what he did. He was funny and had a great sense of humour," Pereira added. "He had that kind of personality that people clung to. He certainly had a lot of fun doing his job."
The Marks family has planned a celebration of life for Kevin, which is scheduled for Saturday, March 5 at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 147 in Barrie. People can join the family anytime between noon and 4 p.m.
— With files from Raymond Bowe
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