By Nicole Hamilton
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Mr. Marx

Graham Evans Marx was a civic-minded mechanical engineer and businessman who worked throughout his life to better his hometown.

The Walnut Hills High School graduate and lifelong Hyde Park resident served several terms as a division chairman for the United Way, in addition to running a tool manufacturing company in Cincinnati.

"He did a lot of things for the community," said his daughter, Mary Besanceney of Walnut Hills.

Mr. Marx died July 10 in Biddeford Pool, Maine, from heart complications. He was 86.

In 1938, after graduating from Cornell University with a degree in engineering, Mr. Marx began working at The G. A. Gray Co. - then on Woodburn Avenue in Walnut Hills - where he initially held several positions in the manufacturing and sales divisions of the company.

He was elected director of the company in 1952 and served as president and general manager from 1959-1969.

The G.A. Gray Co. merged with Cleveland-based Warner & Swasey Co. in 1969 and Mr. Marx served as president of the new Cincinnati subsidiary (still called The G.A. Gray Co.) of the larger company.

He took a leave from G.A. Gray in 1944 to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II, where he was stationed in Buffalo, N.Y. He was honorably discharged in 1946.

Mr. Marx also spent a year in Washington - in 1954 - when he was appointed director of the Metalworking Equipment Division for the Department of Commerce's Business and Defense Services Administration.

He retired from The G.A. Gray Co. in 1981.

A holder of several patents, he was also the former director and member of the executive committee for the Union Central Life Insurance Co.

He served on the board of directors for the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. He was a director of the Cincinnati Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and served as chairman from 1968-74.

Mr. Marx was area chairman for the Red Cross; trustee and director of the Ohio College of Applied Science/Ohio Mechanics Institute; and a trustee of the Community Chest and Council of Cincinnati.

He was a member of the board for the College Preparatory School for Girls and Cincinnati Country Day School; chairman of the University of Cincinnati's 1972 Corporate Fund Drive; and vestryman at the Church of the Advent in Walnut Hills.

Mr. Marx enjoyed woodworking and created his own furniture and intricately designed wooden ships.

He was also a member of the Commercial Club of Cincinnati, Commonwealth Club of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Country Club and the Engineering Society of Cincinnati.

His first wife, Ann Katherine Gross, died in October 1993.

Besides his daughter, survivors include his wife, Marjorie Hiatt of Hyde Park; a son, Graham Alexander Marx of Haverford, Pa., and four grandchildren.

A memorial service will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Seventh Presbyterian Church, 1721 Madison Road, East Walnut Hills. Burial will be in the family plot in Toledo.

Memorials: Cincinnati Association for the Blind, 2045 Gilbert Ave., Cincinnati 45202.

E-mail nhamilton@enquirer.com