Whether it’s sports, business, travel or philanthropy, the Marcils go all in.
Written by Nancy Sokoler Steiner | Photographed by Michael Neveux
When Jerry Marcil’s investment partner decided to put together an outrigger canoe team to participate in the sport’s most popular race, he asked Jerry to join the six-person team. Neither Jerry nor the others had prior paddling experience, but they were game.
The team practiced six times before participating in the 18.2-mile Queen Lili’uokalani Race in Kona, off the island of Hawaii, in 2000. “Out of 138 teams, mine came in dead last,” Jerry says.
Undeterred, Jerry and his wife Carol both participated in the race the following year. Carol decided once was enough, but Jerry decided to get serious.
“Carol and I saw a video of a race in Molokai, where the outrigger canoe world championship is held. It’s 41.4 miles through one of the roughest channels in the world,” he says. “I thought, ‘I want to be in that race and I want to win it.’ I read a book that said you could do anything you want to do in a 10-year period. And it took me exactly 10 years to win the world championship.”
He’s referring to the Molokai Hoe men’s race from Molokai to Oahu. Since that first championship in 2010, Jerry’s team won the competition for their age category in five of 11 races.
Outrigger canoes are recognizable by the long log or float attached to one or both sides of the hull. Jerry paddles a boat about 45 feet long.
While Carol didn’t pursue outrigger canoeing, she enjoys being active by walking, practicing yoga and playing tennis. She and Jerry ride bikes and have taken numerous organized bike trips. When they spoke with Patrons magazine, the couple was looking forward to a bike trip in Greece. They also enjoy fishing and have a boat named Born 2 B Wild.
Jerry, a South Bay native, grew up in Torrance. He worked his way through school as a machinist, attending El Camino College for his Associate of Arts degree and then transferring to Cal State Long Beach. He earned a full scholarship from USC for his final year of college, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business.
After graduation, Jerry began working as a real estate agent. He expected to pursue the field for only six months while waiting for a friend to graduate from business school. The two planned to open a bar and restaurant business.
“I was not a natural salesman, but things started happening. The market was hot. I was doing quite well, so I stayed with it,” he says.
He joined an older developer who sold condos. “I started telling him how to design and build them, but he wouldn’t listen. So I decided to go off and do it on my own,” says Jerry, who later founded Palos Verdes Investments in 2005. He switched his focus from new buildings to buying existing apartment buildings, renovating them and keeping them as investments.
He finds fulfillment in the work. “When you rehabilitate a building, you benefit the environment by saving a lot of resources. And visually it’s great to see the before-and-after effect. I also add a lot of recreational amenities, such as pools, fitness rooms, barbecue picnic areas and playgrounds so tenants can get outside their apartments and aren’t closed in.”
The company is quite successful today, but Jerry weathered some tough economic times during his career. “I went broke twice—seriously broke—once in 1982 and then around 1990. I was worth less than zero and had to work my way back.”
Carol is also a native Southern Californian. She grew up in the Lancaster area, attended community college and earned her accounting degree from Cal State Northridge. She worked as an auditor for Host International and then for CBS Television.
The two met at a self-actualization program and discovered their mutual interest in travel. Both were planning trips around the globe. “Jerry was further along in his planning,” says Carol. “One of the first times we got together was to share travel information.”
Jerry took a three-month trip. Carol traveled for a year, and Jerry met up with her for a week or so in England and Scotland. Recently the Marcils returned from a three-week vacation in the Philippines.
The couple married in 1988. Soon after, Carol decided to change careers. “I was an accountant and auditor and never really loved the work. I loved things about it, like working at CBS Television and going to the studios. But the actual work was dry and boring, and I wanted to do something more meaningful.”
She returned to school and earned her teaching credential, then taught third grade for another year. By then the couple had two sons. Jason, 34, followed Jerry’s path. He invests in apartments and properties on his own. Ryan, 32, whom Jerry describes as a computer genius, works with his father at Palos Verdes Investments.
Jerry also has a daughter, Adriana, from a previous relationship. She buys apartments and converts them into Airbnbs. Adriana lives in Portugal with her husband and has two children, ages 6 and 8. Jerry and Carol are looking forward to a visit from them in June.
The Marcils started supporting Torrance Memorial Medical Center as Patrons 11 years ago, encouraged by Jerry’s best friend, board member Patrick Theodora. “Torrance Memorial is important to the community,” says Jerry. Carol agrees: “Both our sons have been treated here.”
After Jerry received care in the emergency department, Pat invited him to return for a tour of the department. Pat described the current emergency department expansion plans to create a unique two-story design that will double the size, thereby increasing capacity, efficiency and access to care. The $62 million project was looking for an initial donation of $3 million.
That evening, Jerry consulted Carol, who fully endorsed the idea. The next day, Jerry told Pat they were in.
“Jerry has great admiration for the hospital and its leadership,” says Pat. “When touring the emergency department, he saw the need for the expansion and is giving to provide a state-of-the-art emergency department for the community.”
“It’s important to have a good medical facility, and knowing Pat and Greg Geiger are on the board gives us confidence our investment will be well managed,” says Carol.
“It makes a big difference for the people in the community,” says Jerry. “There are a lot of people who go into the emergency department who can’t afford it, but they need the care anyway.”
Philanthropy plays a large role in the couple’s lives. They support close to 100 organizations and causes. Their largest beneficiary is the YMCA. Jerry began supporting the Torrance-South Bay YMCA in 1986. He previously chaired the board and has served as the major gifts chair for the past 18 years.
In his first year in the fundraising position, Jerry grew donations from $200,000 to $500,000. “The major gifts chair usually serves two years. Sometimes they talk you into three. But they gave me a life sentence,” he jokes.
He also serves on the YMCA Metropolitan Board, which oversees the 27 YMCAs in Los Angeles County. The YMCA provides 13 free or low-cost programs, including transporting seniors to centers for lunches, providing child care and—especially close to Jerry’s heart—running summer camps.
“I grew up poor,” he says. “I had friends who went to a YMCA camp, and I wanted to go. A neighbor heard my story and called the YMCA. A volunteer came to my house and said if I sold two cases of peanuts, I would earn my way into camp.”
Jerry went door-to-door, sold the two cases, and thought he had paid his way. Years later, he realized the peanut sale covered only a small portion of the total cost. The rest came from donations. In appreciation of his service and generosity, YMCA’s Camp Round Meadow—the camp near Big Bear Lake that Jerry attended, volunteered as a counselor and later sent his children—was renamed Camp Marcil.
The local organizations Jerry and Carol support include Switzer Learning Center, the Torrance and Palos Verdes school districts, Los Angeles Mission, Union Rescue Mission and Partners for Pediatric Vision. They also support international organizations including Plant With Purpose and Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation.
“We feel very grateful. We’re blessed with a wonderful community, close family and friends, the ability to travel, and the means to support Torrance Memorial Medical Center and other worthy community organizations,” says Jerry. “We believe you must fix your own community before you can fix others, and we’re pleased to do that here in the South Bay.”
