A native of Howell, Michigan, Ward was born on 5 August 1875, and attended county schools.
After graduating from Fenton Normal College, he was a county schoolteacher for five years, then enrolled at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry.
He retired from the deanship in 1934 to assume the Jonathan Taft Professorship of Dentistry and remained on the faculty until 1945.
[1] Marcus Ward married music educator Mille J. Carpenter (28 March 1875 – 1 June 1971) in May 1899.
[1][3] Ward died of a heart attack on 9 January 1963 in the parking lot of the University of Michigan Hospital.