Marvin Grosswirth
Marvin Grossworth was a chairman of American Mensa in the mid-1970s.
Marvin was a prolific author. A stout fellow, he took special pride in being fat. See references to his works in Google.
Sander Rubin Comments on Marvin: "He was good natured and generous. As a skilled writer, he served as Mensa's Public Relations Officer (PRO) in my administration. Mensa needed his talents to expand its membership to obtain economies of scale and enrich its diversity. I persuaded him to run for AMC chairman during a trip to London when I described the pleasures of the office.
"Marvin did not have a taste, however, for the political games a few members were playing and felt uncomfortable in office. He declined to run for a second term and returned to the position of PRO until he died. In a self-consoling mood, he commented to Margot Seitelman, 'It's only a club.' Margot took that phrase and changed the context from a personal observation to a definition of Mensa in chats with many members. In effect, she diminished the constitutional scope of Mensa. The eventual consequences is a tale for a later time."
In a popular anecdote, Grosswirth was supposedly arrested near the United Nations complex for wearing the little yellow map pin which once was used as a sign of Mensa membership; this was unintentionally similar to the secret sign used to identify Secret Service agents protecting the President of the United States while he was speaking at the UN, and Grosswirth was suspected of impersonating an officer until he finally cleared up the matter by having the officers call the American Mensa national office (then in Brooklyn) to confirm the Mensa custom.
| Preceded by: Sander Rubin |
Chairman of American Mensa 1973-1975 |
Succeeded by: Charles Fallon |
