[Leica] Sal DiMarco

[rclark01 at comcast.net (Robert Clark)]

Jim:
Thanks for sharing....unfortunately, I will be unable to attend this 
morning.  My thoughts will be with Sal and all who attend....
Robert

Jim Shulman wrote:

>To All On the LUG,
>
>At tonight's viewing I presented all the posted comments on Sal to his
>surviving brother, Joe. The folder was nearly an inch thick--there was no
>shortage of comments from that various web groups.   Joe was very, very
>touched (and rather surprised) that Sal had so many friends, admirers, and
>well-wishers around the globe.
>
>The following are the obituary notices from today's Philadelphia Inquirer
>and Philadelphia Daily News
>
>Jim Shulman
>Bryn Mawr, PA
>
>Posted on Wed, Jun. 16, 2004 
> 
> 
>Salvatore C. DiMarco Jr. | Photojournalist, 57
>
>
>Salvatore C. DiMarco Jr., 57, a photo editor at the Philadelphia Bulletin
>until it folded in 1982 who later worked for Time magazine and the Black
>Star agency and as a free-lancer for major publications, died of heart
>disease Friday at home in Drexel Hill.
>
>Born in West Philadelphia, Mr. DiMarco learned the basics of photography at
>his father's photo studio on 52d Street.
>
>Mr. DiMarco, who graduated from Monsignor Bonner High School in 1965, began
>working full time at the Bulletin before graduating from Temple University
>in 1970 with a journalism degree.
>
>After college, he took care of his father after the elderly man was robbed
>at gunpoint in his studio, suffered several strokes, and couldn't work. "My
>brother became the head of the household and took care of me, my mother and
>my father," said his brother Joe.
>
>Mr. DiMarco's award-winning photographs have appeared on the covers of
>several magazines, including Life, Time and Boys' Life. Several photos of
>his were recently published in the New York Times. And he was one of a team
>of photographers who produced coffee-table books on President George H.W.
>Bush's inaugural in 1989 and on Pope John Paul II's visit to Baltimore in
>1995.
>
>"Sal was always a classy guy," said Steve Falk, a photographer with the
>Philadelphia Daily News. "His favorite character was James Bond. His
>unfulfilled dream was to own an Aston Martin."
>
>Mr. DiMarco was a longtime member of the Society of Professional Journalists
>and accepted an award from the group the night before he died at a gala at
>the Downtown Club in Center City.
>
>There are no survivors besides his brother.
>
>Friends may visit at 7 tonight and at 9 a.m. tomorrow at Donohue Funeral
>Home, 8401 West Chester Pike, with a Funeral Mass tomorrow at St. Bernadette
>Church in Drexel Hill. Burial will be private.
>
>
>Salvatore DiMarco Jr., photographer
>
>By JOHN F. MORRISON
>
>morrisj@phillynews.com
>
>
>JON FALK was trying to figure out what to do with the trunk emblem for a
>classic 1974 Mercedes.
>
>He had picked it up, along with some other parts, at a Cherry Hill dealer
>for his longtime friend, Sal DiMarco.
>
>DiMarco had called him on Thursday to ask him to get the parts, but Sal died
>unexpectedly Friday, and Falk had the sad task of finding a home for them.
>
>Salvatore C. DiMarco Jr., a busy and well-known free-lance photographer
>whose subjects ranged from presidents to popes, prominent movers and shakers
>in the business world, entertainers, and ordinary folk in dramatic
>situations, was 57 when he died of a massive stroke. He lived in Drexel
>Hill.
>
>DiMarco was not just a great photographer, he was a generous man who had so
>many friends, his phone list, found after his death, was five feet long.
>
>Falk, a retired Daily News picture editor, met Sal when Falk joined the old
>Philadelphia Bulletin in 1976. Sal was a photographer there, and later
>became chief photographer, running a staff of 30.
>
>"He was a fun person to work with," Falk said. "He had a very good sense of
>humor."
>
>They kept in touch after the Bulletin closed in 1982, and Sal went on to a
>successful career on his own.
>
>He covered presidents as a certified White House photographer, and his
>pictures appeared on the covers of numerous magazines, including Time and
>Life. He was a contributing photographer for Time for many years, and was
>associated with Black Star, the international photo agency.
>
>He recently had several photos in the New York Times.
>
>"He always had good things to say about people," said his younger brother,
>Joseph, an engineer in New York. "He was very jovial, always laughing. He
>loved to tell jokes.
>
>"When our father died in 1977, I was 19 and Sal practically raised me. He
>helped put me through school."
>
>Sal was born in Philadelphia to Salvatore and Marie DiMarco. His father was
>a commercial photographer and gave Sal his early education in taking photos
>and using the dark room.
>
>He graduated from Monsignor Bonner High School in Drexel Hill, and received
>a journalism degree from Temple University.
>
>He started at the Bulletin in 1967 as a summer intern and was hired as a
>full-time photographer after he graduated from Temple.
>
>After the Bulletin closed, he launched his free-lance career, which included
>a number of business firms as clients, such as Allied Signal, Bechtel, US
>Sprint, Lucent Technologies, Eastman Kodak Co. and Leica Camera Inc.
>
>In 1989, he was one of a group of photographers commissioned by the
>Presidential Inaugural Committee to produce a picture book of President
>George H.W. Bush's inaugural festivities.
>
>In 1995, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baltimore asked him to be part of a
>team of photographers commissioned to produce a coffee-table book on Pope
>John Paul II's visit to Baltimore.
>
>He showed his photographs at the Oskar Barnack Room of the Leica Gallery in
>New York City in June 2001.
>
>Sal enjoyed hanging out with friends from the "old days." He belonged to a
>group of former Bulletin staffers who met for lunch every month for years at
>various restaurants in the suburbs.
>
>One of the regulars was Hans Knight, retired feature writer for the
>Bulletin, who commented, "Even if Sal had not been one of the country's best
>photojournalists, he would be fondly remembered as a sparkling lunch
>companion.
>
>"Sal could talk like a waterfall, and he knew just about everybody in and
>out of the news business. His anecdotes were as sharp as his pictures."
>
>Steve Falk, Daily News photographer, considered Sal his best friend. He met
>Sal in the late '70s when Sal was with the Bulletin and Falk was trying to
>make it as a free-lance photographer.
>
>"He took me under his wing," Falk said. "I learned location lighting from
>him. He gave me so much."
>
>When Falk learned about his friend's death on Saturday, he was helping
>another photographer set up lighting for a wedding, using knowledge he had
>learned from Sal 20 years before.
>
>"He was a perfectionist," Falk said. "He was always looking for a better way
>to do something."
>
>Sal was godfather to Falk's two children, Michael and Donald, and was
>godfather to the children of other friends as well.
>
>Another member of the luncheon group was Robert Diaz, who was a photographer
>for the Bulletin for more than 30 years. "He was such a generous friend. If
>you were sick, he would be the first one there.
>
>"His life was photography. His main conversation was about photography and
>photographers."
>
>Forrest Black, retired Bulletin writer and another member of the luncheon
>group, said, "He always had a lot of funny stories, usually about famous
>people. He loved to talk."
>
>DiMarco traveled worldwide on his assignments, and rarely missed Photokina,
>the international image and trade fair in Cologne, Germany.
>
>His brother is his only survivor.
>
>Services: Funeral Mass 10:30 a.m. Thursday at St. Bernadette's Church, 1035
>Turner Ave., Drexel Hill. Friends may call at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Donohue
>Funeral Home, 8401 West Chester Pike, Upper Darby, and at 9 a.m. Thursday.
>Burial will be in Ss. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple.
>
>_______________________________________________
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>
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