Mark Roberts Saiter

Mark Roberts Saiter, the son of Paul Siller Saiter and Edith Roberts Saiter of Chagrin Falls, Ohio died January 2, 2024 at age 82. Mark lost his mother, Edith, when he was in high school. Mark was the oldest of the three children and was forced to grow up quickly. His father later married his mother’s best friend, Audrey, who thereafter ran the household much to Mark’s relief and occasional frustration.

As Mark described it, after attending primary schools in Chagrin Falls, he weaseled his way into Denison University in Granville, Ohio. It was at Denison that he met the love of his life, Susan Camp Gowing. Mark was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Mark first met Sue at a fraternity party where she only knew him by his nickname, “Mouse.” Fortunately, Sue looked him up in a picture book and learned his real name. The rest was history.

Mark graduated Denison in 1963 with a degree in liberal arts. Upon graduation, Mark attended law school at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Upon arriving, he found a flier posted in the Lawyers Inn seeking a courthouse runner for the law firm of Passman & Jones. He not only ripped off the tag with the phone number he needed to call to apply for the position, but he took down the entire flier—ensuring that no one else could apply. He got the job.

Fortunately, Mark’s sweetheart, Sue, followed him to Dallas upon her graduation from Denison in 1964. Still a law student, Mark married Sue at the Swarthmore Presbyterian Church on August 28, 1965, with his future law partner, Sam Passman, in attendance. Mark would often acknowledge the best decision he ever made was to marry Sue. And the second-best decision he ever made was to take down the Passman & Jones flier.

Even though Mark had a very successful law career, he was never self-important. Family was always first. Sue was the primary caretaker of the three kids—Rob, Cindy and Dave— but when they were little, Mark would come home from work and bathe the kids. Not something most men did back then. And not only would he bathe them, but he would SING to them. As they grew, he was always in attendance supporting his kids at sporting events, band concerts, camp fire girl campouts and scouting trips.

And as his kids had kids, Mark and Sue learned that they LOVED being grandparents, perhaps even more so than being parents. Mark, in particular, would brag on his grandkids any chance he got. Mark loved family, the Cleveland Browns and war history. A knee injury kept him out of serving in Vietnam, but that did not lessen his interest in books and movies on all the major wars.

Mark’s father, Paul Saiter, rowed crew for the University of Pennsylvania in the 1930’s. Long before The Boys in the Boat book was written, Mark would tell the story from the Penn point of view—his dad was in the boat that lost to the University of Washington in the Olympic Trials in 1936. From his hospital bed, the last movie Mark watched was The Boys in the Boat surrounded by family.

Mark began as a court runner at Passman & Jones in 1963, joined as an attorney in 1966 and retired from there over 40 years later. He was the first lawyer to ever retire from the Passman & Jones firm. Something Sue, of course, insisted on. Hard work and loyalty were definitely traits the Saiter children inherited from their parents.

Mark leaves behind his brother Paul Saiter, wife Margie and their daughters Jessi and Tracy; his sister Holly Saiter; his sister-in-law Helen Gray and her sons, Peter and Andy; his kids Rob Saiter and wife, Mary; Cindy Saiter and fiancé, Abe Kuczaj; Dave Saiter and wife Tammy; as well as eleven grandchildren: Madeline Saiter and fiancé Dalton Harris, Brooke Saiter, Emma Saiter, Sam Saiter, Terra Baugh and daughter Evangelina, Tucker Baugh and wife Dipika, Riley Saiter, Lilliana Saiter, Harrison Saiter, Mac Connolly, and Jessie Connolly.

Please join us to celebrate Mark at Brookhaven County Club, 3333 Golfing Green Drive, Farmers Branch, Texas 75234 on January 21, 2024 at 1:00 p.m.

Donations in Mark’s honor may be made by mailing a check to Denison University, P.O. Box 2007, Mt. Vernon, OH 43050. Please note that you are making a gift in memory of Mark Roberts Saiter.