Mark K. Metzger, 74, of Waltham, Mass., died on Aug. 30, 2025.
Metzger was a beloved partner, father, and grandfather, and a pillar of the Follen Church community in Lexington, Mass. He had a superb sense of humor, wry or goofy. He was a study in patience, an intellect with diverse interests, and always showed genuine curiosity in the people and events around him.
Born Aug. 13, 1951 in Bethlehem, Pa., Metzger was the youngest of three boys. His father, A. Richard Metzger, had been a lieutenant aboard the USS. Hake, a submarine that fought in the South Pacific during World War II, and later became an executive at Bethlehem Steel. His mother, Lucile Kavanaugh Metzger, had worked for Elmo Roper Inc., one of the first polling companies.
Metzger studied linguistics at Brown University and worked summers on alfalfa farms near home or at the steel mill, where he attempted unsuccessfully to persuade his local union to support the boycott launched by grape workers in California. After graduation, Metzger worked as a news reporter covering central New Jersey for the Easton Express. During that time he got back in touch with an old girlfriend, Wendy Strothman, then at the University of Chicago Press. The two married in Chicago in 1978 and had two children, Andy and Meg.
Metzger worked in business journalism for Crain’s Chicago Business, then as editor of The Collector Investor. He briefly worked for Inc. Magazine after the family moved to the Boston area in 1984 and then went into corporate public relations for Miller Communications. Metzger and Strothman raised their children in Newton and then Lexington, where they joined Follen Church, a Unitarian Universalist congregation. There, Metzger performed in community theater, taking on comic roles such as Felix in the “The Odd Couple.”
In 1989, Metzger’s brother Seth died of a heart attack at the age of 42. Seth left his sailboat, an 18-foot catboat named Macavity, to his two younger brothers. Metzger relished sailing in the waters of Narragansett Bay, R.I. and then Midcoast Maine. He eschewed GPS in favor of the traditional tools of paper chart and compass, as he plied Macavity through Muscongus and Penobscot bays with family and friends.
After Metzger and Strothman divorced in 1997, Metzger moved to Arlington, where he ran his own corporate communications firm. Through Follen Church, Metzger became involved in Saturday’s/Sunday’s Bread, a program for feeding the needy in Boston. Eventually, Metzger ran the program and moved it into a new space on Beacon Hill.
At Follen, Metzger took on important roles as head usher, mentor, and president of the church. As part of the annual fundraising auction, Metzger would host members of the congregation aboard Macavity. At Follen and out in the community, Metzger was an advocate for social justice causes. He also hosted a small-stakes poker game, which met monthly for over 25 years. In 2016, Metzger moved to Waltham.
The following year, Metzger met Jane Spitz, and the two quickly became life partners. They played off each other’s keen sense of humor and were fully devoted to and supportive of one another. By happy coincidence they became grandparents at the same time and enjoyed many visits with their growing families. Known to the grandkids as “Papa,” Metzger was always game to play with them at their level.
On Labor Day weekend, on the heels of a three-week trip spent with Jane and family in Greece and Italy, Metzger was in the setting that loved best, Muscongus Bay. On his way to visit friends on Bremen Long Island, he unexpectedly died.
Metzger is survived by his children: Andy Metzger, of Philadelphia, his wife, Kate Hensley and their two, sons, Walt and Lou; his daughter, Meg, of Brooklyn, her husband, George Kontaroudis and their two daughters, Thalia and Artemis; his brother, Richard, of Arlington, Va.; his sister-in-law, Janet Metzger, of Falmouth Foreside; his former wife, Wendy Strothman, of Stockbridge, Mass.; and his life partner, Jane Spitz, of Hanover, Mass., her three children, of Hanover and Brooklyn, and her two grandchildren, of Brooklyn. They all miss him dearly.
Services will be held at Follen Church in Lexington, Mass. at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Greater Boston Food Bank.
