[Leica] Sal DiMarco

[jshul at comcast.net (Jim Shulman)]

To All On the LUG,

At tonight's viewing I presented all the posted comments on Sal to his
surviving brother, Joe. The folder was nearly an inch thick--there was no
shortage of comments from that various web groups.   Joe was very, very
touched (and rather surprised) that Sal had so many friends, admirers, and
well-wishers around the globe.

The following are the obituary notices from today's Philadelphia Inquirer
and Philadelphia Daily News

Jim Shulman
Bryn Mawr, PA

Posted on Wed, Jun. 16, 2004 
 
 
Salvatore C. DiMarco Jr. | Photojournalist, 57


Salvatore C. DiMarco Jr., 57, a photo editor at the Philadelphia Bulletin
until it folded in 1982 who later worked for Time magazine and the Black
Star agency and as a free-lancer for major publications, died of heart
disease Friday at home in Drexel Hill.

Born in West Philadelphia, Mr. DiMarco learned the basics of photography at
his father's photo studio on 52d Street.

Mr. DiMarco, who graduated from Monsignor Bonner High School in 1965, began
working full time at the Bulletin before graduating from Temple University
in 1970 with a journalism degree.

After college, he took care of his father after the elderly man was robbed
at gunpoint in his studio, suffered several strokes, and couldn't work. "My
brother became the head of the household and took care of me, my mother and
my father," said his brother Joe.

Mr. DiMarco's award-winning photographs have appeared on the covers of
several magazines, including Life, Time and Boys' Life. Several photos of
his were recently published in the New York Times. And he was one of a team
of photographers who produced coffee-table books on President George H.W.
Bush's inaugural in 1989 and on Pope John Paul II's visit to Baltimore in
1995.

"Sal was always a classy guy," said Steve Falk, a photographer with the
Philadelphia Daily News. "His favorite character was James Bond. His
unfulfilled dream was to own an Aston Martin."

Mr. DiMarco was a longtime member of the Society of Professional Journalists
and accepted an award from the group the night before he died at a gala at
the Downtown Club in Center City.

There are no survivors besides his brother.

Friends may visit at 7 tonight and at 9 a.m. tomorrow at Donohue Funeral
Home, 8401 West Chester Pike, with a Funeral Mass tomorrow at St. Bernadette
Church in Drexel Hill. Burial will be private.


Salvatore DiMarco Jr., photographer

By JOHN F. MORRISON

morrisj@phillynews.com


JON FALK was trying to figure out what to do with the trunk emblem for a
classic 1974 Mercedes.

He had picked it up, along with some other parts, at a Cherry Hill dealer
for his longtime friend, Sal DiMarco.

DiMarco had called him on Thursday to ask him to get the parts, but Sal died
unexpectedly Friday, and Falk had the sad task of finding a home for them.

Salvatore C. DiMarco Jr., a busy and well-known free-lance photographer
whose subjects ranged from presidents to popes, prominent movers and shakers
in the business world, entertainers, and ordinary folk in dramatic
situations, was 57 when he died of a massive stroke. He lived in Drexel
Hill.

DiMarco was not just a great photographer, he was a generous man who had so
many friends, his phone list, found after his death, was five feet long.

Falk, a retired Daily News picture editor, met Sal when Falk joined the old
Philadelphia Bulletin in 1976. Sal was a photographer there, and later
became chief photographer, running a staff of 30.

"He was a fun person to work with," Falk said. "He had a very good sense of
humor."

They kept in touch after the Bulletin closed in 1982, and Sal went on to a
successful career on his own.

He covered presidents as a certified White House photographer, and his
pictures appeared on the covers of numerous magazines, including Time and
Life. He was a contributing photographer for Time for many years, and was
associated with Black Star, the international photo agency.

He recently had several photos in the New York Times.

"He always had good things to say about people," said his younger brother,
Joseph, an engineer in New York. "He was very jovial, always laughing. He
loved to tell jokes.

"When our father died in 1977, I was 19 and Sal practically raised me. He
helped put me through school."

Sal was born in Philadelphia to Salvatore and Marie DiMarco. His father was
a commercial photographer and gave Sal his early education in taking photos
and using the dark room.

He graduated from Monsignor Bonner High School in Drexel Hill, and received
a journalism degree from Temple University.

He started at the Bulletin in 1967 as a summer intern and was hired as a
full-time photographer after he graduated from Temple.

After the Bulletin closed, he launched his free-lance career, which included
a number of business firms as clients, such as Allied Signal, Bechtel, US
Sprint, Lucent Technologies, Eastman Kodak Co. and Leica Camera Inc.

In 1989, he was one of a group of photographers commissioned by the
Presidential Inaugural Committee to produce a picture book of President
George H.W. Bush's inaugural festivities.

In 1995, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baltimore asked him to be part of a
team of photographers commissioned to produce a coffee-table book on Pope
John Paul II's visit to Baltimore.

He showed his photographs at the Oskar Barnack Room of the Leica Gallery in
New York City in June 2001.

Sal enjoyed hanging out with friends from the "old days." He belonged to a
group of former Bulletin staffers who met for lunch every month for years at
various restaurants in the suburbs.

One of the regulars was Hans Knight, retired feature writer for the
Bulletin, who commented, "Even if Sal had not been one of the country's best
photojournalists, he would be fondly remembered as a sparkling lunch
companion.

"Sal could talk like a waterfall, and he knew just about everybody in and
out of the news business. His anecdotes were as sharp as his pictures."

Steve Falk, Daily News photographer, considered Sal his best friend. He met
Sal in the late '70s when Sal was with the Bulletin and Falk was trying to
make it as a free-lance photographer.

"He took me under his wing," Falk said. "I learned location lighting from
him. He gave me so much."

When Falk learned about his friend's death on Saturday, he was helping
another photographer set up lighting for a wedding, using knowledge he had
learned from Sal 20 years before.

"He was a perfectionist," Falk said. "He was always looking for a better way
to do something."

Sal was godfather to Falk's two children, Michael and Donald, and was
godfather to the children of other friends as well.

Another member of the luncheon group was Robert Diaz, who was a photographer
for the Bulletin for more than 30 years. "He was such a generous friend. If
you were sick, he would be the first one there.

"His life was photography. His main conversation was about photography and
photographers."

Forrest Black, retired Bulletin writer and another member of the luncheon
group, said, "He always had a lot of funny stories, usually about famous
people. He loved to talk."

DiMarco traveled worldwide on his assignments, and rarely missed Photokina,
the international image and trade fair in Cologne, Germany.

His brother is his only survivor.

Services: Funeral Mass 10:30 a.m. Thursday at St. Bernadette's Church, 1035
Turner Ave., Drexel Hill. Friends may call at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Donohue
Funeral Home, 8401 West Chester Pike, Upper Darby, and at 9 a.m. Thursday.
Burial will be in Ss. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple.