David Marcou

Degree(s): BJ '84

What do you do?

I’ve been a freelance author, photojournalist, & editor ca. 55 years, plus a journalism staffer & a college extended education teacher in writing & photography. I create, publish, donate (including to Smithsonian & the Wisconsin Historical Society et. al.), display & sell, my documentary/art works. I’ve authored 450+ book-titles so far, including 360+ volumes in my award-winning “Spirit of America” book-series. My recent book-titles include books of photos by me taken in Britain & South Korea; a book of photos I took of Danica Patrick as National Press Club main speaker, 2-21-12 including her comments; a book of photos I took at a Rev. Jesse Jackson speech at UW-L in 2011; a book of photos at a Merle Haggard concert in LaX, WI in 2013; a book of photos at a thank you Mass at Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman Cathedral LaX soon after native Wisconsinite Crd. Ray Burke became a consecrated Catholic Cardinal; biographies of Bert Hardy, James Cameron, and John H. Whale, whom I met & interviewed/worked with in 1981’s Missouri-London Reporting Program as a London Sunday Times reporting intern (also, my best photo-portrait of Bert Hardy & his dogs Lizzie & Kim has long been in the Photos Collection of the Brit National Portrait Gallery, NPGx126230) ; Spirit of America, Vol. 90: Tiger Spirit (a book of photos taken by me in Missouri in two+ decades); SA98: Wonderment, or Alive at 205? (a book of photos I took in-studio of PBS NewsHour staff, featuring Mizzou alum Jim Lehrer’s unofficial retirement photo-portraits by me & photos by me of Judy Woodruff, et. al.; the title is based on a comic story Jim told me about Mizzou’s Dean English; SA116: Mom and Dad’s 60th Valentine Anniversary Party 2010 (photos taken by me of my parents’ & immediate family at that gathering); and To Sir and Lady with Love–Excerpts from My British Memoir, & My Personal History of Photography; & SA300: A Golden Age of America? My photos of presidential campaigns (no fewer than 6 eventual presidents photographed by me); writings about photographing & corresponding with St. Mother Teresa b/c I met & photographed her 1-27-85 in Anyang, S. Korea); & my photos of Viterbo U. Holocaust Survivor Guest Speakers, especially Elie Wiesel (Nobel Peace Laureate & founding chair of USHMM), Oscar-winning author Gerda Weismann Klein, & Eva Schloss (Ann Frank’s step-sister). Also, I continue to be 1 of the world’s most-prolific living book author-photographers. In recent years, an Irish fire medic/county administrator/photographer/family patriarch, Paul Curran, has also creatively contributed photos by him & his family & some of his writings to the SA book-series too. We’ve collaborated on 2 volumes of world photo history as well, e.g., SA171 & SA176, etc. And I’ve researched, written, & revised for WI newspapers & my SA book-series, long reports about the 16+mysterious, college-aged riverdeaths at La Crosse, WI, 1997-2025, plus many groundbreaking books. I’ve also written extensively about suspicious deaths of the 1960s, including assassinations of JFK, LH Oswald, MLKJr., RFK, & Marilyn Monroe. And my “Remembering Davy Crockett” play in 2012 was nominated for a Pulitzer the next January. Plus in recent years my playscript “Bloody Math: An American Tragedy in Three Acts” was donated by me to the UW-Mdsn Archives, covering the anti-war bombing of UW-Mdsn’s Sterling Hall (Aug. 1970), which killed 1 young physics researcher who happened to be a peacenik ironically, Rbt. Fassnacht. I lived in Madison & attended UW-Mdsn 1968-80. And I’d known some of the characters in my play. Also, my sequel to Sean O’Casey’s “Juno & the Paycock”, “Song of Joy–Or the Old Reliables; & 2 OJ’s” was produced in 2 different partial productions in 2008, & is being considered for full production in Ireland at present (2025-2026).

How did you get your job?

Journalism school professors Daryl Moen & Won Ho Chang helped me find my first full-time news job, as lead English-language copy editor for South Korea’s Yonhap National News Agency, starting in Aug. 1984.

What is the best professional lesson you learned at the J-School?

Taking each day 1 step at a time; being open-minded, curious, ethical, & focused on people & works I love. Also, not everyone earns big money/fame soon after graduation. I’ve not so far had personal income of more than ca. $15,000 annually; but my sponsors continue to be generous, including family & friends.

What advice do you have for current students?

Be patient, yet persistent, have a good sense of humor, know the rules (even if in good conscience you need to break 1 or 2; Family of Man Curator/MOMA Photo Dept. Director and World-Famous Photographer Edward Steichen broke a couple key design rules when he was a boy), and improvise adeptly, to achieve your goals. It also helps to have good family, friends and other readers to share your positive works with. Prayer and serendipity don’t hurt either.

What is your favorite J-School memory?

I have several from my years at Mizzou. I did a Missourian photo-story for Prof. Veita Jo Hampton’s class in 1980 on a 5-year-old boy born with spina bifida & great spirit & sense of humor. And Profs. Kennedy & Morgan convinced me to take chances once in a while. Prof. George Kennedy, when I was almost ready to travel to London for the Sunday Times internship program, that professor asked me to cover a severe wind/rain storm in Columbia; though shy about it due to wanting to prepare for London near take-off time, I did cover that storm, & my story was titled “It Wasn’t Business As Usual”. Prof. Ernie Morgan said a couple weeks’ earlier, when I told him my grades were poor and maybe I shouldn’t go to London, “you’ll regret it, David, the rest of your life, if you don’t go to London now”. Ernie Morgan also wrote to me about my Missourian London report edited by John H. Whale that autumn semester, in which I covered a tense 1981 meeting between Britain’s Cardinal Basil Hume and 50 IRA relatives of Maze Prison Hunger-strikers at Westminster Catholic Cathedral in London: “The story is good. Good writing.” In addition, I did a personal interview of the very first female graduate of the very first School of Journalism in the world, Mary Paxton-Keeley of Mizzou, my interview of her being when she was nearly 100 y-o in early 1982. Mary was a lifelong friend of Bess Truman & 1 of 2 godmothers for Harry & Bess Truman’s daughter, Margaret Truman. Mary was asked by 1st MU J-School Dean Walter Williams to choose the color for the international Journalism graduation tassel. Mary responded: “It’s like Mr. Twain used to say, “Any old color as long as it’s red will do.” My parents attended my J-School graduation in Columbia in May 1984, a great event.

Additional Comments

Thank you, Mizzou J-School for the good things you’ve helped me & mine with so far, & continuing. My teachers, my peers, my employers, my associates, & my family & friends, always.–From David Joseph Robert Marcou.