Victor Vassel Marko

It is with great sadness that we share that Victor Marko has passed away peacefully on Tuesday, October 14, 2025 in his 89th year, in Kelowna, BC. Vic was with his loving wife Anne and his dedicated son Jeff when he passed. His daughters, Jennifer and Jodie, were with him in spirit.

Over the last several years, our family was fortunate to have spent a lot of wonderful times together in Kelowna and on daily facetime calls. He thoroughly enjoyed having fun with his two grandchildren, Zoe and Connor, along with giving belly rubs to Winston and Sophie. Vic and his witty demeanour were always a large presence at regular family events with his wife Anne (nee Stewart), his son Jeffrey who lives in Kelowna, and his daughters, Jennifer with her husband Mat Ventre, and Jodie with her husband Colin Swan and their children Zoe and Connor, who would come frequently from California and even stayed for the year of the pandemic. Vic’s nieces, nephews, and close friends, would also come visit (with Keri Norrie visiting often from Vancouver Island), and all enjoyed wonderful dinners with Vic at the head of the table, telling tales of his vast international adventures, always ending with a dry humour twist.

In addition to being a strong and loving husband and father, Vic led an incredible life with remarkable travels. He had an impressive and impactful career, was a talented artist, an avid tennis and pickleball player, an adventurer, and a huge fan of the Blue Jays. He loved green tea, crosswords and a nice contemplative afternoon raking his Japanese garden in their Gallagher’s Canyon, Kelowna home he had designed 24 years ago.

He was drawn to architecture at a young age when growing up in Toronto. While Vic was in the architecture program at Ryerson Institute of Technology he met his true love and inspiration of his life, Anne, a nurse studying at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Toronto.

They married in 1960 and moved to Cleveland, Ohio where Vic completed his architectural degree at Case Western Reserve University in 1964. Vic was elected president of WRU academic fraternity, “Epsilon Delta Rho”, and graduated magna cum laude and winning awards throughout university.

They moved to Chicago in 1966, for two years, when Vic was invited to apprentice for the world re-known modern architect, Mies van der Rohe, the former Director of the Bauhaus in Berlin, and in 1966 they moved to Montreal where Vic project managed, Mies’ Westmount Square office tower.

Moving back to Toronto in 1967, Vic became an associate principal with the firm of Parkin Associates where he managed the international airport design and development section for 15 years. If you have been to the airports of Toronto, Italy, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal and Sri Lanka, you have indeed walked through one of the buildings Vic worked on with such care in his early career. These projects, and year-long postings abroad, allowed Vic and family to explore and experience many countries and cultures which created a strong unbreakable family bond.

In 1982, with their three children, Jennifer, Jeffrey and Jodie in tow, they moved to Ottawa, where Vic soon became the chief architect at the Department of Foreign Affairs until his retirement in 2000. If you have been to the Canadian Embassies in Japan, Argentina, Germany and London, you will have had the pleasure of being inside the many buildings upon which Vic worked. He led his teams with integrity, expertise and skill to build so many Canadian Embassies with great architectural presence and a salute to Canadian culture.

For four years, Vic led the teams of Raymond Moriyama, Shimizu and government team in the design and building of the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, Japan. This experience created impactful memories for our family, and made an indelible mark on world architecture. The Embassy, which was adjacent to the Akasaka Palace, was respectfully designed with a slanted roof, so that there would be no shade cast on the Palace grounds. The relations between Canada and Japan were further fortified by this project, as well as Vic’s gentle, intelligent, creative management of the project and work with the Japanese construction and banking teams. When the project was finished, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney attended the ribbon cutting, and gave a speech where he asked Vic about the construction and queried how on earth the cranes are removed when it is completed. To which Vic responded, "Well Prime Minister, they are cranes, so they just fly away." Japan was a wonderful experience for the entire family and marked an important chapter in his life.

In 2000, Vic and Anne moved to Kelowna, BC, where Vic took up tennis, bridge, golf, and continued his passion for art, being one of the founding directors of Livessence, a group of figurative artists at the Rotary Centre for the Arts. During this time Vic became an avid tennis player of the Gallagher’s Canyon tennis club until his late seventies and later took up pickleball and became a very impressive player and pickleball advocate in his early 80s.

Vic and Anne created a lovely home in the Gallaghers Canyon community, where they made many close friends. Active until the very end, Vic led his life with integrity, creativity and a wit that is fondly remembered by his family who delighted in those moments when they all shared a good laugh with tears. We will miss those moments, and have so many memories of such a fine man, so dedicated to his family, his craft and his love for life. Those memories will not be lost in time, as they will always live on in our hearts.

His farewell wishes were for there to be no service, but for each of us to be together with our loved ones and reminisce about all of the wonderful times we’ve had together over the years.

A memorial website has been created to allow all to share stories and photos of your memories of Victor Marko, a true international man of mystery and a wonderful presence in our lives, who will forever be missed, but never forgotten.

https://app.memories.net/invite/memorial/4e06a0c9-cf2b-4361-bbe9-124937d44811/link