Painter, printmaker, illustrator, and eductor Dr. Marques E. Reitzel was born in Fulton, Indiana on March 13, 1896. After serving in WWI he pursued a formal art education beginning in 1919. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and then earned his Ph.D in the arts at Ohio State University. In 1938 he took a position at San Jose State College (now San Jose State University) in California, establishing the school's first art department. He remained its director until 1956.

In 1958 he was commissioned by England's Windsor & Newton watercolor firm to travel throughout the state of California and paint what they called the "changing scene," allowing Reitzel to interpret that as he wished and to go wherever he felt necessary. While traveling, he was invited to lecture and be a an art juror at various institutions, which further established him as a California artist. 

Among the venues at which he exhibited were the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.; the Carnegie Institute; the De Young, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. He was a member of the Los Gatos Art Association, the Santa Cruz Art League, the Chicago Socity of Artists, the Pacific Artists Association, and more. 

Marques E. Reitzel died in Pescadero, California, on December 26, 1963.

Selected exhibitions:
Art Institute of Chicago, 1927-29; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1928-31; Centruy of Progress Expo, Chicago, 1933 (medal); Golden Gate International Expo, SF, 1939; San Jose Art League, 1941 (1st prize); Oakland Art Gallery, 1941-43; Maxwell Galleries, SF, 1944, and more.