Marvin Joseph Odom, healer, herbalist, acupuncturist, gardener, sailor, desert rat, pirate (retired), artist, amazing husband and friend, died peacefully with Karen at his side on July 16, 2020. He had been hospitalized at Stanford Hospital for treatment of leukemia.

Born in Massachusetts in 1951, raised on the Jersey shore, he loved the water at a young age, eventually attending Maine Maritime Academy, where he led the sailing team to several championships. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Third Mates license and then worked on ships sailing to Europe, the Middle East and Mexico. Egypt was his favorite destination. He and Karen met in Boston during the infamous blizzard of ’78 and married in 1980. After a year in Rhode Island Correctional Institution for “committing marijuana” as he called it, he went to work for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, taking school kids and adults out on the Bay, showing them how water pollution was adversely affecting the water creatures and plants. A few years later, when he felt the call to healing work, he and Karen moved to California where he attended acupuncture college and started his practice in 1987, treating people with back pain, AIDS, Hepatitis C and various other illnesses. He enjoyed woodworking, loved camping in the desert, hiking, biking, and especially gardening. He often quoted Guy Clark, “only two things money can’t buy, that’s true love and homegrown tomatoes.” Every spring his goal was to have a ripe tomato by summer solstice and he succeeded twice. Joseph loved to tell stories, especially sea stories, often replete with accents and poking fun at himself. Quick witted, he loved bad puns and bad jokes.

He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Karen Lynn; foster daughter Cassie Sweeney Gianni; sisters Penny Odom, Patricia Riviera and Jane Gibbons and their husbands; his nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews and many cousins. Due Covid-19, no memorial is planned at this time.