Marc A Wiesner Memorial

Marc Aaron Wiesner
Friday, March 13, 1959
to
Wednesday, June 12, 1985

Two hours after the doctor said he did not want to change his forty-four-year record of never having delivered a baby on a Friday the 13th, Marc Aaron was born. Another doctor predicted Marc would be successful because he was used to struggling: He already had struggled for life for six months before birth and he had struggled for three years afterward. His third grade teacher said he would never learn to read and do Math, but his year’s average for seventh grade English was B, and A for Math—Honors Math.

College was not easy: He attended school, took on odd jobs, and worked full time at the bank where his boss introduced him as “The Computer Whiz Kid.” He had to get his textbooks on tape and often had to listen to the tapes in the closet of his noisy Texas Tech dorm. He called home one day to say that he and Milton Friedman had something in common: They both belonged to the Economics Honor Society. His degree took him seven years, but he graduated with Honors with a double major, Economics and Finance. A national defense electronics company hired him at a tremendous salary. When asked why so much, he quietly said, “Because I’m worth it.”

His joyful nature kicked in before getting out of bed in the morning: He would clap his hands high overhead and say, “Today is a great day to be alive.” Of the many inspirational sayings he kept around him, his favorite was one he kept by his computer: “What can be conceived, can be achieved.” He did not count on a truck hitting his car as he drove home from work.