Roy Marburger
The last surviving grandchild of the Evans City couple whose progeny built what some call the Marburger Farm Dairy “empire” died on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. Roy Marburger, the youngest of 31 grandchildren, was 94.
His grandparents, John Gottlieb Marburger and Mary Magdalena Wahl Marburger, owned the 200-acre Marburger Farm adjacent to what is now Marburger Farm Dairy at 1506 Mars-Evans City Road, Forward Township, Butler County. The Marburger family has owned the land since the 1840s.
John and Mary gave the farmland to their children, including Roy’s father, Victor Wahl Marburger, known as Wahlie. One of Wahlie’s brothers, Adam, started Marburger Farm Dairy next to the farm in 1938. The dairy is widely known today for products sold throughout Western Pennsylvania and buttermilk sold by grocers across the country.
Roy was the youngest of Wahlie and Hazel McCandless Marburger’s seven children. Hazel’s sister, Georgia, married Wahlie’s brother, Adam.
Roy had one brother and five sisters. All grew up during the Great Depression and World War II in a home about 150 yards from the farm and dairy. In an era when few women attended college and the demands of the Depression and the war kept many people from attaining higher education, all seven children graduated from college.
Roy opted to become a mechanical engineer. After he graduated from Grove City College in 1951, he married Janet Lindsey of New Castle. The draft intervened. Roy spent his two-year service in the Army at a base in Maryland that stored chemical weapons.
Afterward, Roy and Janet moved back to Western Pennsylvania, where they settled in the North Hills area of greater Pittsburgh. They moved into the then-fledgling North Allegheny School District, in McCandless Township, where they had four children. They stayed for nearly 70 years before moving to Florida in 2024.
In 1979, Roy cofounded Dynamic Equipment Corporation. In a plant on Pittsburgh’s North Side, Dynamic produced heavy, mobile equipment the size of a heavy truck with large metal jaws jutting from the front. The jaws grabbed and manipulated hot steel. Forging mills across the country used Dynamic’s equipment.
Roy continued as president of Dynamic until he retired in 2016 at age 86 and sold the company.
Roy held a master’s degree in business administration from Duquesne University. A steel industry trade journal published his thesis, which analyzed the fiscal benefits of company incentives for employees.
“Creative,” “expert,” “true to his word,” said some longtime clients.
“He loved a good story and could tell one, too,” a friend said.
Roy became a fixture at local swimming meets during the 1970s, when his two sons and two daughters competed for North Allegheny High School and a local swim club.
While in his late 80s and early 90s, Roy regularly traveled with Janet on fall Saturdays to Grove City to watch grandson, Patrick Mark, play football for Grove City College. On other weekends, they traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to watch grandson, Brad Shannon, swim for Ohio State University. And they went to California, Pa., to watch granddaughter, Kelly Mark, swim for California University of Pennsylvania.
An eager competitor who played football and track and field for Evans City High School, Roy had a catchphrase that brought groans from his children and grandchildren. When he was winning a family card game or any other family game, he teasingly chuckled, “Not much to this game.” But the chattiness ended if he fell behind.
Roy Arthur Marburger died on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, at his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where he lived with Janet, who has survived him. They were married for over 72 years. He died about a month before his 95th birthday.
His surviving children are David of Cleveland, Ohio, Dan of Fountain Hills, Ariz., Sally Mark of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and Susan (Dan) Shannon of Leonardtown, Md. He had seven grandchildren.
Roy was preceded in death by his siblings, Victor Marburger, Lucille Marburger, Helen Slack, Hazel Grabman, Grace Marburger and Eleanor Hays.
A service celebrating Roy’s life will convene on Saturday, May 17, 2025, at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 1965 Ferguson Road, Allison Park, Pa., time not yet determined.
Janet can receive cards rather than flowers at 100 Discovery Way, Apt. 129, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418.
Please sign the guest book at www.butlereagle.com.
