Marvin Okun

Okun, Marvin of Kalamazoo Marv passed away on Thursday afternoon, October 20, 2016 at Bronson Methodist Hospital. He was born on May 13, 1925 in Kalamazoo Michigan, the son of the late Simon and Mollie (Olinick) Okun. A lifelong resident of Kalamazoo, Marv graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School in 1943. He graduated from the University of Michigan with an engineering degree in 1947 and then a law degree from in 1949. While at U-M he was a member of Tau Epsilon Rho, a Jewish legal fraternity. Following graduation, he traveled to Detroit, New York and Chicago in search of work as an attorney. He didn't like the idea of starting as a researcher in a big firm, where his contact with the public would be limited; so he came back to Kalamazoo, hooked up with a small law firm for a while, then found work as an engineer with National Water Lift Co. Marv's father and uncle had already established Okun Bros. Shoes in Kalamazoo, so he began consulting with his brothers, Leon and Edward, in the family shoe business, and he also started working in insurance. He opened the Marvin Okun Insurance Agency in 1960 and his name and agency became a part of Kalamazoo's story. He was a lifelong active member of Congregation of Moses, where he and his wife founded the Marvin and Rosalie Okun Religious School. Surviving are his wife Rosalie and several nieces and nephews. Preceding him in death were his parents and two brothers. Marv is leaving this life with a sense of completion and a legacy that will always be rememberedhe will be greatly missed. A funeral service for Marv will be held at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, Oct. 26, at Langeland Family Funeral Homes, Westside Chapel, 3926 S. 9th Street. Interment will follow in Jewish Riverside Cemetery, Kalamazoo. Please visit Marv's personalized website for directions or to sign his online guestbook at www.langelands.com.