[3] While writing his dissertation under the direction of Henry Guerlac at Cornell,[4] Marsak accepted a position as Instructor of History and the Humanities at Reed College in Portland, Oregon in 1953.
[5] While teaching at Reed College in 1954, Marsak was questioned before the House Un-American Activities Committee, where he respectfully declined to answer on the grounds of the 1st and 5th Amendments of the United States Constitution.
[6] While having some trouble finding another position,[7] Marsak finished his Ph.D. in History at Cornell University in 1957, with a dissertation on the French philosopher Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle.
[10] Professor Marsak published widely on Modern European Intellectual History in books, articles, and reviews.
He and his wife Ann Marsak (a scholar in her own right, as well as an environmental activist)[11] also collected extensively in Asian Art.