After a lifetime of working for others, Marc Gellman now works for himself. After more than forty years focused on architectural design and real estate development projects. Marc has launched several new careers: writing books, performing stand-up comedy routines, and creating and starring in "Benjamin's Grandpa" videos.
His future outlook is all about accomplishing the fun stuff he always dreamed of doing. "In my youth, I was a silly kid. Life's challenges and experiences influenced me to become a (mostly) serious-minded adult, and conformity was the only way to survive in the corporate world. With no one to answer to any longer, it's time for the silly me to come out . . . with maybe just a little seriousness now and then."
Marc grew up in the East New York section of Brooklyn, New York in the 1950's and '60s, and most of his world existed on the block where he lived. During the summers, his family - mom, dad, and older brother - vacationed in the Rockaways of Queens NY, a summertime beach community, with a mix of bungalows, three story rooming houses, and grandmas who played mah-jongg on sandy front porches.
On the day of his sixteenth birthday, Marc started his working career as a clerk at the Big Apple Supermarket on Church Avenue, Brooklyn. He earned maybe $1.25 an hour and made extra money from a side business he cooked up, ferrying groceries home from the market for elderly customers. He earned enough for a standing Saturday night date, with pocket money left over for the week.
As a young boy, Marc developed an interest in watching the construction of buildings. He would excitedly visit the site of anything being built in his neighborhood after school and monitor the constructon progress each day, and he went on to attend a school of architecture.
While attending college, Marc became a licensed real estate salesperson, selling homes in the Northeast Bronx and later in Woodhaven, Queems. He married one week after his twenty-second birthday, two weeks before his wife's twentieth birthday.
After graduation, the couple moved to a rural New Jersey northwest suburb, where they raised their three children. At first, Marc worked for a home builder and later grew his career at a management and design consulting firm. Now . . . he's a proud author and a grandpa to three grandkids.
