Marvin Dean Riley
September 4, 1935 - December 26, 2025
Marvin Riley passed away peacefully at home in Lodi on December 26th at the age of 90. He was born on September 4, 1935 in Maywood, Nebraska to Mildred and Wendell Riley, and grew up on a farm near Gering.
At Gering High School, Marvin played football (before face masks - with the scar to prove it), basketball, and baseball. He first enrolled in shop and metalwork classes, until his father marched him back to school to sign up for college-prep classes instead. In 1953, he attended the University of Nebraska to study vocational agriculture and even tried out for the football team until it became clear that he wouldn’t make the team as a 170-pound center.
Marvin began his career teaching vocational agriculture, chemistry, and physics at a high school in Lagrange, Wyoming and then as a chemistry teacher in Cheyenne. While teaching, he earned a Master of Science in Chemistry from the University of Wyoming. In 1965, he was honored as Wyoming’s Top Educator and received the award at the White House from President Lyndon B. Johnson. With support from a National Defense Education Act grant, he went on to earn his PhD in Chemistry from the University of South Dakota.
In 1969, Marvin moved his family from Vermillion, South Dakota, to Stockton, California, where he joined the chemistry faculty at San Joaquin Delta College. He spent the next 33 years doing what he loved most – teaching and mentoring students.
Marvin enjoyed water skiing, snow skiing, and golf, and was a proud member of the Woodbridge Country Club for 34 years. He also proudly served as the Little League coach for his two sons for many years and was an active member of the Clements-Lockeford Lyons Club, where he served a term as Club President.
His path to ninety years was not without challenges as he narrowly survived the great blizzard of 1949, emergency brain surgery, and non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma twice. In June of 2019 his doctor, not accounting for the toughness of a Nebraska farm boy, told Marvin he had only four to six months to live. Clearly, Marv had other plans.
He leaves behind his loving wife of 44 years, Gayle; his children Lynndee Riley, Ken Riley (Gayle), and Kevin Riley (Jennifer); his stepdaughter Jennifer Fancher (Gary); eight grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and his younger brother, Melvin. Marvin was preceded in death by his older brother, Marion.
SERVICE
A graveside service will be held at Cherokee Memorial Park in Lodi at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, January 9, with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests donations to Hospice of San Joaquin.
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Cherokee Memorial is honored to serve the Riley family.