David Joseph Marcou

David Joseph Marcou has lived in London (1981) and Seoul (1984-87), and now resides in western Wisconsin. He is a writer, documentary photographer, and editor of numerous articles and 12 plays along with books from his writing classes.
Birth and Education
David J. Marcou was born on Nov. 25, 1950 in LaCrosse, WI. His parents are David A. Fitzgerald Marcou, a retired butcher, and Rose C. Muskat Marcou, a retired nursing home clerk. He is the oldest of 4 brothers and 3 sisters. David graduated from Franklin, St. James, and Aquinas schools in LaCrosse. He earned a B.A. in History at UW-Madison in 1973, a M.A. in American Studies at the University of Iowa in 1978, and a B.J. in Journalism at UM - Columbia in 1984.
Among his notable teachers, he has been the most influenced by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, the Missouri Group, Iowa’s John Raeburn and UW’s Tom Ryan. Mr. Ryan persuaded David to see the Sean O’Casey play ‘Juno and the Peacock’ putting him in touch with his Irish heritage. He has worked as a grocery meat clerk, lifeguard, librarian, custodian, UPS clerk, teacher, and journalist. He married Anne Majeska, a Spanish teacher, in 1973 and divorced in 1979.
Professional and Personal Life
In 1980 David photographed and wrote his first picture story on Patrick Clark, a boy with spina bifida. Participating in the Missouri-London Reporting Program in 1981, he met and interviewed former Picture Post contributors Bert Hardy and James Cameron. His best photo of Mr. Hardy with his dogs is in the Photographs Collection in Britain’s National Portrait Gallery. He wrote a notable report on 50 IRA relatives meeting Britain’s Cardinal Basil Hume, photographed a day nursery, and covered immigration and the arts.
After graduating with his journalism degree, David was the chief international desk copy editor for Yonhap, South Korea’s main news agency. After moving over to Business Korea Magazine, he met and married Suk-Hee Sim. Their son Matthew Ambrose Marcou was born in 1987. They divorced in 1992. Matthew learned how to skillfully use a camera and computer from his dad. He attended the UM-Minneapolis and then joined the US Army.
In 1990 David edited the Adams-Friendship, WI papers, from which some of his photographs came to reside in the Wisconsin Historical Society Collection. He was the LaCrosse correspondent for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from 1991-2006. David has written about photographic history for the Smithsonian Magazine, RPS Journal, and the British Journal of Photography. His own works include street and event photos, informal portraits, and still-lives.
He has photographed Presidents, Miss America 2003 Erika Harold, Mother Teresa (receiving 17 personal letters from her), Cardinal Raymond Burke, former Bishop of the LaCrosse diocese, Lord Runcie, Brett Farve, Barry Alvarez, and other local notables. Soldiers, athletes, artists, Mark Twain, Dorothea Lange, Edward Steichen, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Annie Leibovitz, John Loengard, and Vernon Biever are among his writing subjects. David has published online his complete history of Picture Post Magazine “All the Best.”
He taught writing and photography for Western Technical College from 1991-2002. He edited ‘Spirit of Wisconsin’, ‘Spirit of the World’, and the ‘Spirit of America’ series plus other anthologies for the group he leads, The American Writers and Photographers Alliance (AWPA). He has worked with his son on many personal books, authored his British and Korean memoirs, and his novel based on a modern peninsula resembling Korea, ‘Chosen’.
Also David has written 12 plays, including ‘Song of Joy-Or the Old Reliables’, a sequel to Sean O’Casey’s classic tragicomedy ‘Juno and the Paycock’. Retaining the comic elements, key O’Casey characters, and moving them 18 years into the future, pub crawlers Captain Boyle and Joxer Daly partly redeem themselves. The sequel was revised most recently by David Marcou in summer 2010, implementing changes suggested in a positive critique from the Literary Staff of the National Theatre of Ireland (the Abbey Theatre).
Awards and Distinctions
In addition to nominations for a Pulitzer for ‘Spirit of LaCrosse’ (a grassroots history he edited), a POYI book award, and a Governor’s art award, his alliance (AWPA) received
The Sept. 12 Guild’s top book award in 2002 from Greg Hilbert and Mary Eisenhower for ‘Spirit of America: Heartland Voices, World Views’. In 2006 ‘Spirit of the World’ won a Wisconsin Governor’s Commendations from Governor James Doyle. Contributors to these anthologies included top students, teachers, officials, entrepreneurs, clergy, journalists, archivists, family, and friends.
David J. Marcou’s writings and photos are housed in many leading archives and galleries. Among them are the British Library, Korea’s National Assembly Library, the Museum of Modern Art and the International Center for Photography, both in New York City, and George Eastman House Libraries. Other locations in the United States are various Smithsonian Archives, the State Historical Societies of Missouri and Wisconsin (including his own online WHS gallery), Library of Congress, UW-LaCrosse, Viterbo University, and the LaCrosse Public Library Archives.
References
1-“Mother Teresa ‘Miracle’ Led to Renewed Faith,” by Linda McAlpine, LaCrosse Tribune, Oct. 2003, p. 1+. A story about how the letters Mother Teresa and David J. Marcou exchanged from 1989 to 1996.
2-“A People Person,” British Journal of Photography, June 18, 2003. A 3 page article by David J. Marcou about how he deals photographically with celebrities.
3-“Local Playwright Pens Sequel to Classic Irish Play”, by Geri Parlin, LaCrosse Tribune, August 5, 2008. An article covering David J. Marcou’s play ‘Song of Joy-Or the Old Reliables’, previewing production of its pub scene at Irishfest in LaCrosse.
4-LaCrosse Public Library Manuscript Collection, Works by David J. Marcou.

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