I would have loved to have heard Mark tell his tale just to see that patented smile on his face as he told it. I am a Pulitzer Prize finalist and missed the mark by a smidgeon, too. I am sad that I never heard that story directly from Mark. He swam until he was diagnosed with diabetes. The guy was a star on the swim team from 1989-1991 and missed going to the Olympic trials by. If you ran into him on Mission Street or at a LACHSA event, he might’ve mentioned his USC cred. He was just as proud of being a business school graduate of the University of Southern California, a graduate of the master’s program in Fine Art in Film & TV producing at USC and a graduate from the prestigious USC Peter Stark Production Program. Portos should name a croquetta after him, something with spice. He religiously raced across LA to find the best picadillo and buñuelos. That’s why he hated when others didn’t follow them.” He was always trying to deal with the anger that came with kids beating him up.” Lisa’s voice drifted off, as she seemed to understand her husband a bit more as she spoke. He was always the underdog, at school and in life. He was the only Latino in San Marino at the time. “He got beat up because he was not white to be exact. “I think they did it because he was so different from the other kids,” his wife Lisa told me. He made it home with rope burns around his little neck. They tied a noose fastened from a jump rope and hung him from the monkey bars. On his first day of kindergarten, a few rotten kids bullied him on the playground. His big heart and wild mouth placed a target on his back. Mark had it tough growing up in San Marino. He was the guy who always showed up when you needed him. He gave us a million.Īsk anyone about Mark Deetjen and you’ll hear this repeatedly: He was fiery. ![]() But he also pulled over now and then to fully enjoy his life with his wife and kids, friends and the South Pasadena community he loved so much.Įvery time I asked people to speak about Mark for this tribute, no matter who they were, smiles washed over their faces. Mark left lots of gifts like that behind for those he loved most. “It was literally the last thing he did,” Lisa said. Days before he took his last breath, Mark, from his hospital bed, signed purchase papers for his first custom-built Porsche 911, a gift to himself after a job promotion. He survived a tough life, organ transplants and a couple of heart attacks.
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