James Dennis Marsalek, English teacher at numerous Maryland institutions and poet, dies

Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun
·3 min read

James Dennis Marsalek, an English teacher and poet, died of Parkinson’s disease complications Jan. 2 at Sinai Hospital. The Towson resident was 76.

Born in Baltimore and raised on Chesterfield Avenue, he was the son of Wenceslaus Marsalek, a Navy veteran and Bethlehem Steel worker, and Catherine Ruth Dean, a homemaker.

He was a 1965 graduate of Archbishop Curley High School and received an English literature degree from Loyola University Maryland where he helped produce the school’s old poetry publication IGNIS. He earned a master’s degree in liberal arts from the Johns Hopkins University.

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He met his future wife, MaryAnne Zahirsky, through friends. They married April 17, 1971, at St. Francis of Assisi Church on Harford Road.

“The first impression I had of him was outgoing, laughing, witty,” Mrs. Zahirsky said. “Our first date was at the Towson University sweetheart dance. I asked him and he agreed.”

They were involved with Marriage Encounter through the 1970s into the 1990s, a religious movement focused on writing and speaking honestly as a couple.

“We learned a communication technique called ‘dialoging,'” she said. “It was all about sharing and strengthening your marriage.”

He became an English teacher at Archbishop Curley High School and an adjunct professor at the Community College of Baltimore County at Essex and at Catonsville and the University of Baltimore and Baltimore City Community College.

He was later a sector chief and program manager for the Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development. He then was an assistant director with the Howard County Department of Citizen Services.

He also held posts with the Northwest Baltimore Corp., planned events for the old Institute of Notre Dame and wrote grants for the Maryland Department of Human Resources.

Beginning in 2002, he taught at the old Valley Academy and was later an adjunct professor at Stevenson University, where he taught writing and English.

“My father was an intellectual with deep interests in history and philosophy,” said his son, David Zahirsky Marsalek. “He had a lifelong interest in exploring Eastern arts through studying Zen, Daoist and Hindu writings and rabidly read and wrote poetry, letters, and journaled.”

Mr. Marsalek spent his Saturdays beginning in the 1980s through the 2000s hunting sales in Roland Park and Rodgers Forge.

“He was a hard-core garage sale shopper,” his son said.

Mr. Marsalek often bought tools, clothes for his sons and recorded music.

He also led family vacations to Fenwick Island, Delaware.

“My father adored the Beats, especially writers like Allen Ginsberg, as well as folk, rock and psychedelic rock stars of the mid to late 60s,” his son said. “He loved The Beatles, Peter Paul & Mary, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, John Coltrane and Jimi Hendrix.”

Mr. Marsalek played guitar throughout his life and sang in a folk trio while a student.

Mr. Marsalek lived for 47 years on Roland Heights Avenue in Medfield. He was a founder and president of the Heathbrook neighborhood association. A small section of the community he helped clean and maintain is named the Marsalek Family Park at Heathbrook.

A life celebration is being planned.

Survivors include his wife of nearly 53 years, MaryAnne Zahirsky Marsalek, an art teacher and Maryland Institute College of Art associate dean of continuing studies; a son, David Zahirsky Marsalek, of Oak Park, Illinois; and two grandchildren. His son, Nick Marsalek, died in 2004.