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Obituary: Wesley B. Marshall of UA, 72, was radio-TV pioneer

Wesley B. Marshall, a University of Arizona professor emeritus who helped establish its Department of Radio-TV in 1975, died July 10. He was 72.

Cause of death was not given.

Described by family members as a witty storyteller, talented writer, loyal friend and loving husband, he was an author and former manager of KUAT-TV and KUAT AM and FM.

Veteran broadcaster Larry Schnebly, a former program director at KGUN-TV, said, “He did not make us competitors. He made us compatriots, disseminating news and being a community force that was positive.”

Mr. Marshall was born Nov. 4, 1934, and spent his youth in Caldwell, Ohio. His early media experience involved work as a “printer’s devil” in the late 1940s at The Journal and Noble County Leader. While pursuing a bachelor of science degree at Ohio University, he continued work at the weekly newspaper as a reporter-photographer.

Completing a master’s of fine arts degree in radio-TV in 1959, he became news director of WATH Radio in Athens, Ohio. The following year, he was awarded a U.S. Army commission of lieutenant as a television specialist and assigned to manage research of new technologies in the field at the Army Pictorial Center in New York City.

Mr. Marshall joined the staff at Ohio University in 1963. There, he managed WOUB-TV, helped form Ohio and Central Educational Television networks and taught courses in television production.

Five years later, he moved to Tucson, where he assumed management of KUAT-TV and later helped establish and manage KUAT AM and FM radio.

In 1983, he was named associate director of UA’s Division of Media and Instructional Services and was made a professor in the Department of Media Arts in 1985.

Mr. Marshall retired in 1998 after 30 years with UA, to write. His book, “In the Noble Hills,” describes his youth in Ohio. He also wrote “The Ancient Ones: An Anasazi Adventure,” a fictional account based on prehistoric Southwestern cultures.

A memorial service is scheduled at 3 p.m. July 29 at Desert Skies United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, 3255 N. Houghton Road.

Survivors include his wife of 24 years, Marilyn; a son, Shawn Marshall, and wife, Lisa; stepdaughters Wendy and Kim and husband, Doug; and four grandchildren.

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