Hundreds Attend Funeral For Former Toronto Police Chief Jack Marks
Posted March 3, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Hundreds of people gathered Saturday to pay their final respects to the spirited former Toronto Chief of Police Jack Marks, who lost his battle with lung cancer earlier this week. He was 80-years-old.
Close to 1,000 mourners filed into St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church at 115 St. Andrew’s Road in Scarborough for the funeral service. The house of worship, which Marks attended until he became very ill, only holds 200 people but an overflow room was provided to accommodate the large group.
Members of the rank and file, along with former chief Julian Fantino, current chief Bill Blair, Mayor David Miller, Ontario’s Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter and a host of other dignitaries attended the sombre service.
“I’m proud of the legacy that Jack Marks left for the city of Toronto Police Service,” Miller said following the service.
“He … made sure it became respected and started the process of adapting to diversity. A massive hiring of diverse people when he was police chief and he left a tremendous legacy and today’s service really spoke to his strengths both as a man and as the police chief of Toronto.”
Blair also recalled some fond memories of his colleague.
“When Jack called, you went. He was organized, he knew how he wanted things to be and we were used to that with him,” he said.
“He was a great chief and when I became chief of police, one of the first people who walked through my door was Jack Marks. He wouldn’t come in and tell you what to do. If you wanted advice, he would be quick with it. And in tumultous times, he was right there.”
A large contingent from Toronto Fire Services was also expected to attend as Marks’ son is a firefighter and an executive in the firefighters union.
An honour guard, including an OPP colour party and honourary pall bearers, comprised of the staff superintendents and deputy chiefs, escorted the late chief’s casket into the church. A parade of officers also took part in the service.
“I just remember him as a very, very strong chief and a good chief,” Toronto Police Deputy Chief Tony Warr said.
“He was a good man to work for and he was a very positive man, very definite and very easy to get along with. I’m saddened by today, obviously, but it was good serving with him.”
Marks rose to the position of Toronto’s top cop in 1984 and the five years he held the post were considered to be quite tumultuous times.
When Marks took over, the force had recently increased its ranks significantly and there were serious tensions between police and particular cultural communities, including the city’s gay and lesbian community, which he worked hard to mend.
He hired more visible minorities in a three-year period back in the 1980s than any other company of a similar size and he was the top cop when the force moved into its new headquarters at 40 College Street.
Marks also faced some tough times early on in his tenure as chief with a revolt in the ranks following the firing of an officer that led to a work slowdown and a near strike.
The former traffic cop was responsible for the way the Toronto force operates today, with a focus on community policing.
CityNews’ Mark Dailey got to know Marks very well working as a crime reporter.
Dailey said many were surprised when Marks was named chief because he started out in traffic and didn’t rise through the ranks like other chiefs before him.
“Jack was basically a guy who had come through traffic and not the normal detective ranks chiefs come through. It was a surprise to some that he was made chief but he was a great manager, good administrator,” Dailey recalled.
“He was a colourful guy, but he was also a very straight-laced by-the-book, you know, spit and polish kind of guy, didn’t put up with any nonsense from the police officers, was very much into the integrity of the Toronto Police force and all it stood for at the time and stood up for that.”
Marks died of lung cancer related to asbestos exposure when he worked as an electrician for a brief time before he became a cop in 1951.
He leaves behind his wife Joyce, his three grown children and grandkids.
