Judy Marcus: 'Fur Ball' Champion, Hometown Hero Founder

Los Altos Hills resident Judy Marcus will be  inducted into San Francisco State University's Alumni Hall of Fame on Friday.

San Francisco State calls Marcus, a 1962 graduate, "a creative force in non-profit leadership for the past 30 years." She has been active in some of the lower Peninsula's best-known organizations, benefiting the public for many years. She served as president of the board of the Community Services Agency (CSA), Families in Transition and Breast Cancer Connections, and has been an active leader with the Peninsula Humane Society, Montalvo Arts Center, and Avenidas Senior Center.

She founded CSA's "Hometown Heroes" event and helped launch the Peninsula Humane Society's first "Fur Ball" fundraiser, and her "innovative participation in non-profits have helped "bring in new levels of funding to grassroots organizations."

Previous inductees include actor Jeffrey Tambor, "Frasier" co-creator and executive producer Peter Casey and NASA astronaut Yvonne Cagle. The March 15 induction will take place at a dinner and reception in San Francisco ,which celebrates the 2013 class of the Alumni Hall of Fame and the formal investiture of the university's new president, Leslie E. Wong.

Marcus currently serves on the San Francisco State University Foundation's Board of Directors. As Judy Otten, Marcus graduated from the University with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1962 and taught for seven years before starting a family. Together, with her husband George Marcus who graduated from San Francisco State in 1965, she has established the SF State International Center for the Arts, supported scholarships, and endowed the Robert A. Corrigan Chair in American Studies.