Albert Marzano, 89; designed Wawa logo

Albert Marzano, 89, who designed the goose logo for the Wawa convenience-store chain, died of heart failure Sunday at his Philadelphia home.

Mr. Marzano, who attended South Philadelphia High School, took classes in the 1930s at the Graphic Sketch Club and the Plastic Club, both in Philadelphia. But, his son Anton said, "he was largely self-taught."

During his Army service in World War II, Mr. Marzano illustrated military posters and signs, his son said. His work was so good that it "kept him out of combat."

In the early 1950s, Mr. Marzano opened his one-man business, Ad Creators, with a studio in the 1900 block of Locust Street.

"He made logos and ads for companies through agencies that contacted him," his son said.

In the 1970s, his son said, Mr. Marzano made logos for Ortlieb's and Yuengling beer bottles.

And in the 1980s, he came up with the goose sketch for Wawa - a word that is said to be American Indian for

goose

.

Among Mr. Marzano's other commercial work, his son said, was the Slinky logo. But he was not limited to logos.

"Painting was his passion," his son said. "To pay his bills, it was the graphic" designs.

A 1964 announcement in the Philadelphia Bulletin of a one-man show of his reported that in 1961, Mr. Marzano had won the Newman Memorial Medal of the National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic. (Casein is a milk-based paint.)

His paintings were exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Art Alliance, and the National Arts Club on Gramercy Park in Manhattan, his son said.

Besides his son Anton, Mr. Marzano is survived by another son, Arthur, and two grandchildren. His wife, Gilda, died in 1994.

Friends may call after 9:30 a.m. today at St. Patrick's Church, 20th and Locust Streets, where a Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:30. Burial will be in SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple Township.