Dennis Charles Marquis passed away the morning of August 18, 2019 in Ocala, Florida, after a series of health challenges.
Dennis lived a life of richness in family, friends, professional accomplishments, and travel. Dennis’s parents Tom and Ethel Marquis’s favorite hobby was moving and he lived in Ohio, Michigan, California, and Florida as a child but claimed Lima, Ohio as home. He attended Stetson University, majoring in physics, and it is there that he fell head over heels for June-Alyce Harrington. They married in 1956 and, in 1960, Dennis and June seized the opportunity offered by the nation’s new space program and headed to Florida’s Space Coast.
Dennis’s technical ability and natural leadership led to his substantial contributions to the space program, particularly in infrared, advanced optics, and early work on lasers and over-the-horizon sensors. Dennis was active in civic leadership through Kiwanis and the First United Methodist Church in Melbourne. He continued his civic leadership throughout his life as the official or unofficial “mayor” whether in the Truro subdivision in Northern Virginia or First Methodist Church in Chatham, MA.
In 1968, Dennis and June and their four daughters moved to the Washington, DC suburbs where Dennis held several positions in the Department of Defense with responsibilities including oversight of major DoD ranges and test facilities around the globe and the U.S. lead for NATO and international command, control, and intelligence programs. Dennis’s greatest leadership contributions were at NATO’s SHAPE Technical Centre, the technical research, development, and testing organization supporting NATO’s military command. Serving first in the 1970s, as a division director for command and control systems, Dennis became Director of STC in 1989, when he and June returned to the Netherlands.
Dennis and June were married for 57 years. They traveled throughout the world from their early years together. Wherever he lived, Dennis was known as a “car nut,” working in his white t-shirt underneath their latest Oldsmobile, driving his Toyota Supra across Europe, watching NASCAR with young daughters on his knees, and reading car magazines in his last home in The Villages, Florida. Most of all, Dennis and June were known as the ultimate gracious host and hostess, famous for their dinner parties. Throughout his professional moves, Dennis joined June as loving parents to their daughters, whether in Florida, Virginia, the Netherlands, or their home-away from home in Chatham, Massachusetts. In 2013, Dennis moved to The Villages in Florida where he enjoyed golf, Trivia Night, and many friends including his partner Joan Spires.
Dennis’s life is celebrated by his daughters Susan Marquis, Carol Auerbach, Jill Milliken, and Lisa Marquis, grandchildren Kevin, Cate, Emily, Alex, and Jack; sons-in-law Chris Thompson, Craig Auerbach, Sean Milliken, and daughter-in-law Merryll McElwain; and his partner Joan.
Dennis’s family and friends will celebrate his life on Saturday, October 12, 2019 11:AM at First United Methodist Church, 110 E New Haven Ave, Melbourne, Florida www.firstchurchmelbourne.com Donations in lieu of flowers may be sent to June and Dennis Marquis Memorial Fund , Christ Church Alexandria or Hospice of Marion County Arrangements entrusted with HIERS-BAXLEY Funeral & Cremation Life Event Center, 3975 Wedgewood Lane, The Villages, FL 32162.
