George M. Marcus (born 1941) is a Greek-American

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

real estate broker, the co-founder and chairman of

Marcus & Millichap Marcus & Millichap, Inc. is an American company that provides real estate brokerage, mortgage brokerage, research, and advisory services in the U.S. and Canada in the field of commercial property. It popularized the practice of listing properties ...

, and founder and chairman of Essex Property Trust.

Early life

He was born George Moutsanas in

Euboea Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...

, Greece, in 1941, and migrated to the US with his family in 1945, aged four. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

(SFSU) in 1965.

Career

In 1971, he co-founded

, with William A. Millichap. Marcus is founder and chairman of Essex Property Trust. He owned 2.4% stake. During the 1980s he was a trustee of the

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

and is a member of the CSU Foundation's board of governors. He also served 12 years as a

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

regent.

Personal life

His wife Judy Otten Marcus graduated from SFSU in 1962 with a degree in recreation, and is a former physical education teacher. Marcus lives in

Los Altos Hills Los Altos Hills (; ''Los Altos'', Spanish language, Spanish for "The Heights") is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 8,4 ...

, California.

Philanthropy

Marcus and his wife Judy donated $3 million to help found

SFSU San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

’s International Center for the Arts. In 2017, Marcus donated $1 million to

Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (HCHC) is an Orthodox Christian liberal arts college and seminary in Brookline, Massachusetts. Its mission is to educate individuals for life and service in the Orthodox Christian c ...

. In 2018, George and Judy Marcus donated $25 million to SFSU to establish the George and Judy Marcus Funds for Excellence in the Liberal Arts. The funds will support students and faculty in liberal and creative art programs at the school and make enhancements in its Department of Creative Writing and the School of Cinema. This donation follows a $1.8 million donation the year before to establish an athletics scholarship fund at the school. In 2020, Marcus donated $2 million to the reconstruction of the

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, officially the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine, is a church and shrine in the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is administered by the Greek Orthodox Archdi ...

at the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

in New York City, adding to the $1 million that he had previously donated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcus, George M. 1941 births Living people American billionaires American businesspeople Greek billionaires People from Los Altos Hills, California San Francisco State University alumni