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Police ID body found in Morristown

Michael Izzo
@MIzzoDR

MORRISTOWN – Police have released the name of the 54-year-old man who was found dead Saturday morning on a bench in front of the Morristown Post Office.

The man has been identified as Marvin McDonald, who had lived at several addresses in Morristown for the past decade but it appears that he may have been homeless at the time of his death, according to a press release from the prosecutor’s office.

Information regarding the cause of death is pending and under investigation by the Morris County Office of the Medical Examiner however, this incident does not appear suspicious and there is no threat to anyone in the community, the release said.

Morristown police were alerted at 8:26 a.m. about an unresponsive male on post office property, located on the corner of the Morristown Green, at 1 Morris St.

Morristown police and paramedics from Atlantic Health Services responded and determined that the man was deceased.

Bruce Ingram, 66, of Morristown, said he was a friend of McDonald’s and that he was homeless by choice.

“I have no idea why he decided to be homeless but there was no need for him to be,” Ingram said. “He was not your typical homeless person. He chose it.”

Ingram said McDonald was a veteran of the Navy, a member of the Calvary Baptist Church, and a graduate of the Market Street Mission, where he went on to counsel people for more than 20 years.

“It’s a shame what happened to him, and he just made it through the winter,” Ingram said. “He was a really good, brilliant person who had learned so much.”

David Scott Jr., resident director of Market Street Mission, said he remembered McDonald working there as he grew up around the Mission. Scott’s father is executive director of Market Street Mission.

Scott said McDonald worked at Market Street Mission through the late 90s,

“Marvin went through the program and then was on staff and in leadership positions, working with people in the program,” Scott said. “He did a lot of good for a lot of people.”

Scott similarly did not understand why McDonald was homeless.

“He chose to be homeless for some reason. I guess he liked the freedom of it,” Scott said. “Some evenings I would see him walk by my house and we would have conversations on my porch. He was fine.”

Anyone with information is requested to contact the United States Postal Inspection Service at 202-268-3700, the Morristown Bureau of Police at 973-538-2200 or the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office at 973-285-6200.