Vladimir G. 'Vlad' Marinich, one of Howard Community College's first 10 professors, dies at 86

Mar. 22—Vladimir G. "Vlad" Marinich, one of Howard Community College's original professors when it opened in 1970, and author of books chronicling the college's history and his family's experiences in the Russian Revolution, died of glioblastoma March 2 at his home in Ellicott City. He was 86.

Mr. Marinich became the first of 10 full-time faculty hired for the college's opening in 1970 and remained there for nearly 43 years, teaching an array of social sciences courses including world, medieval and Russian history, and the art and culture of ancient Egypt.

"He just was a walking encyclopedia when it came to a bunch of stuff," said John Bouman, an HCC economics professor who was hired by Mr. Marinich in 1983.

Along with his wife, Barbara Livieratos, Mr. Marinich led a series of trips for students and community members to Russia and Greece, sharing his love of history as the group cruised around St. Petersburg.

"Vlad often knew much more than the tour guides because the tour guides had been brought up through the Soviet system," said Ms. Livieratos, a former HCC administrator who married Mr. Marinich in 1999. "He would give the lectures onboard and at the places we were visiting."

Known for his charity work, Mr. Marinich volunteered alongside his wife in orphanages and schools in Tanzania and Haiti and fundraised for HCC scholarships, including travel aid for students.

As part of his fundraising efforts, he conducted the Social Sciences Symphony Orchestra — a misleadingly titled group of faculty members who performed songs by artists ranging from Mozart to The Beatles on the kazoo. Clad in a tuxedo, Mr. Marinich would crack jokes and wave a baton during the group's performances at the college's charity talent show.

"There's nothing graceful about that instrument," Mr. Marinich told The Sun at his 2012 retirement party. "There are no buttons to push, and you don't really learn it."

Friends and family described Mr. Marinich's perpetually upbeat energy and deep care for every student he encountered.

"He was the first one to really tell me that I was intelligent and that I had something to give," said Kristy Kulski-Ingram, who attended HCC in the early 2000s after leaving the Air Force and was the first in her family to graduate college.

The final original HCC professor to retire in 2012, Mr. Marinich saw the school grow from almost 600 students in its first year to nearly 23,000 credit and noncredit students in 2022. He co-authored a six-volume history of the college and remembered a time when the only things wandering the now urban campus were cows and deer.

"HCC is probably one of the kindest, [most] supportive and wonderful institutions I've ever been around," said Ms. Kulski-Ingram. "Vlad is very much for me, and I think [for] a lot of students, the face of that."

Vladimir George Marinich was born Sept. 9, 1936, in New York City to a family of Russian émigrés. His parents were George Marinich, a taxi driver and former White Army cavalry officer, and Lydia Globacheva, a Prince Matchabelli perfumery worker.

Growing up in Manhattan, Mr. Marinich learned Russian from his maternal grandmother, who fled Russia in 1917 with her husband, the ex-chief of the Tsarist secret police who provided security for infamous mystic Rasputin. Mr. Marinich spent years translating his grandparents' memoirs into an award-winning book and he and Ms. Livieratos recently completed a historical fiction novel based on his grandmother's life.

He graduated from City College of New York in 1958 with a degree in anthropology and earned a master's degree in liberal arts from New York University before moving to Maryland in 1964. After working at a series of technology jobs, he received a graduate certificate in history from the Johns Hopkins University before landing his position at HCC in 1970.

Mr. Marinich recalled the all-hands-on-deck attitude in the early days of the college.

"We were in the building Sunday mopping the floors, making sure the blackboards weren't dusty, even though they had never been used, Windex-ing the windows, getting the place ready for the students on Monday," he told The Sun.

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A lifelong cinephile, Mr. Marinich took pleasure designing courses based on the history of science fiction and horror films.

"His way of storytelling really spoke to a lot of students," Bouman said.

His first marriage to Virginia Malone ended in divorce.

In addition to his wife, Barbara, survivors include three children from his first marriage, Greg Marinich of Wilmington, N.C., Diana Harrigan of Eldersburg, and Betsy Lamb of Charlotte, N.C.; stepchildren Alec Livieratos of Ellicott City, Cole Livieratos of Austin, Texas, and Theodora Yardley of London; and 13 grandchildren. He was predeceased by his older brother, Oleg Marinich, in 2020.

A celebration of life will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. at HCC's Horowitz Center Smith Theatre.

Mr. Marinich called teaching the "noblest of professions" and knew he had found his dream job when he arrived at HCC.

"I teach what I love," he told The Sun. "When you come right down to it, what's the difference between what I do at home to enjoy and fulfill myself — reading history — versus what I do here? If I look at it writ large, work is drudgery. Digging a ditch is work, but what I do — I enjoy it."