Attilio ‘Marco’ Jesu; Ran Film Subtitling Business

Attilio “Marco” Jesu of Ventura, an early pioneer in the Hong Kong movie industry who established the first subtitling business in the former British colony, died Tuesday of cancer at his home, surrounded by his family. He was 92.

Born May 1, 1905, in Naples, Italy, he left at the age of 5 and traveled to Shanghai, China, with his uncle, Alberto Lauro. He became an avid sportsman in the Far East, excelling in soccer and boxing.

In China, he helped establish the country’s first film company, Lauro Films, with his uncle. During World War II, he was interned in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp at Wei Shan.

“They said he was too friendly with the Allies, so they put him and other Italians right in the camp along with the Japanese,” said his daughter, Antonia Colitti of Ventura. She and several of her siblings were born in Shanghai.

After the war and before the Communists took over Shanghai, Jesu moved his family to Hong Kong, where he began his subtitling business. The family then moved to the United States, landing in New York on Jan. 1, 1956.

Jesu moved to Burbank one year later and he and his wife, Julia “Mamie,” moved to Ventura in 1982. Marco and Mamie were married 53 years.

“He loved life,” Colitti said. “I’m sure wherever he is now, he’s kicking up a row. That’s the way he was.”

The family said an excerpt from Dylan Thomas’ 1952 poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” best described Jesu’s life: “Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

In addition to his daughter and wife, Jesu is survived by daughters Benita Colitti and Verna Jesu, both of Ventura; sons Peter Remedios, Donald Jesu and Anthony Jesu of Ventura, and Rigo Jesu of Hong Kong; 20 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.

Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Joseph Reardon Funeral Home, Ventura.