RIP Marc Mandeltort, 1954-2021

[Deleted member 2463]

So Long Marc, and Thanks for all the Parts. | All Pinball | Pinside.com

| Forum Topic by pmandeltort

pinside.com

very sad and MarcoSpec is an amazing organisation!

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Marc Mandeltort, 1954-2021
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Our community lost a grand champion on Sunday, December 19, 2021.

Marc Mandeltort, the founder of Marco Pinball (Marco Specialties, Inc.), passed away peacefully in his sleep. Marc’s life work revolved around preserving pinball and making it accessible to everyone.

For Marc, pinball wasn’t just a game designed to make money.

It is a beautiful miniature world under glass.
It is a tool that builds communities.
It is a pastime and a lifestyle.

For Marc, pinball machines were kinetic art that needed to be preserved for future generations to discover and enjoy. To achieve this mission, Marc dedicated his life to building a sustainable company that ultimately enabled dozens of people to directly build pinball careers, inspired thousands more to fix games, and saved countless games from the landfill.

In the early days of Marco, he would often spend hours swapping pinball stories with customers. Every game was a world of nested stories ranging from the design and gameplay itself to the politics and popular culture of its time. Most of all, Marc loved nothing more than finally locating an obscure part that brought a pinball machine back to life and sharing it with the community at large.

The Marco Family wishes to honor his legacy by collecting the stories about him and his impacts on the pinball community. We set up an inbox, memories@marcopinball.com to collect these stories. We haven’t figured out how we’ll share them yet, but we can promise they will be seen by the immediate family and we will work to compile and disseminate them when appropriate.

While his game of life tilted too early, Marc built a solid leadership team that will continue to build and serve our community for decades to come. Please be patient with us as we work through these difficult times.

Let’s keep these games working and keep sharing them with the world.

Thank you all for helping Marc do what he loved.

 

[Sako-TRG]

Sad indeed, feel for family and friends.

 

[Gary Flower]

It was with great sadness I learnt of the passing of Marc, there are many words to describe the man; he was a hero in so many ways; coming to the salvation of the pinball repairers seeking out that hard to find, if not obsolete, part; often fabricated by Marc’s company ‘Marco Specialties’ even when demand was never going to return a significant profit. He was also a hero to many manufacturers as he would come to their rescue when other suppliers had let them down. As an example, shortly after Williams/Bally ceased production in 1999 it was Marc who kept operators and home users supplied with parts, often through other parts distributors, to ensure their pinball machines continued to operate.



Marc was a legend; not only did he attend pinball shows all over the USA, he would often sponsor events as well. Whenever in attendance he would generally stand out as being the only person in the room ‘suited and booted’ always affable and the voice of reason in any discussion.



Most people that bought parts from Marc, directly or indirectly, will not know what a debt of gratitude they owe the quietly spoken President of Marco Specialties nor understand his impact on the pinball landscape across the World.

 

[AlanJ]

Didn’t know him personally, but have bought plenty of their wares. sad to hear, esp as he wasnt that much older than me. RIP

 

[Rus121]

Wow. Very sorry to hear this. Literally THE go to place for everything. I do hope he gets a great send off. RIP.

 

[russdx1]

Placed a few orders my self over the years RIP