Ocean City's longtime public relations guru Mark Soifer died over the weekend.
He was 89.
Soifer was the brainchild behind events like Miss Crustacean, Mr. Mature America and Martin Z. Mollusk, a hermit crab mascot for the city.
"It's hard to imagine Ocean City without Mark," Mayor Jay Gillian said Monday.
Soifer worked for 45 years as Ocean City's public relations director before retiring in 2016.
He was known for giving a unique -- and somewhat more family-friendly -- twist on events already known elsewhere.
For example, the Quiet Festival in November offered a more subdued and relaxing list of events to lead in the hectic and often loud holidays.
He often would even don a trash can costume with lid hat to become Trash Buster, the "canned" crusader against litter.
Soifer served in the Army before starting his career as a publicist that took him to stops in Vineland and Philadelphia before finding his home in Ocean City in 1971.
He is survived by his wife Toby, four children and eight grandchildren.
