There’s a familiar saying: to know them is to love them. In Marsha Cann’s case, it meant something deeper. To know her was to know that she loved you.
Marsha Marie House Cann — a poet, actress, educator, activist and a woman who made everyone she encountered feel seen — died Wednesday, September 9, after a series of health setbacks. She was 72.
Born July 21, 1954, in St. Louis, she was the youngest of Ural and Jessie House’s four children. Her academic gifts showed early, but it was the arts that called her.
While she was a student at Beaumont High School, a group of Black drama students from Washington University in St. Louis performed Douglas Turner Ward’s “A Day of Absence.” “That was it for me,” Cann said in a 2024 episode of Carol Daniel’s Listen, St. Louis podcast. “I said, ‘These are my people.’”
She followed that feeling to Washington University, where she studied theater — a decision that helped shape the future of St. Louis theater.
“Marsha was perhaps the reason that I’m in theater,” said Ron Himes, founder and producing director of The St. Louis Black Repertory Company. “She inspired me to want to do theater. She was an integral part of the beginnings of the company that would become The Black Rep.”
In a video created by her husband, Clement Cann, she recalled casting Himes — then a business major — in his first role. For her senior project, she directed an act from Lonne Elder III’s Ceremonies in Dark Old Men. “I had decided to cast all of my friends in it — and I cast Ron as Blue,” she said.
Himes said she quickly became part of the campus circle that would evolve into The Black Rep. “She just became part of our crew,” he said. “We hung out together all the time… we just grew together and took care of each other through the years.”
Years later, Cann appeared in The Black Rep’s first production of Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf. She hadn’t been on stage recently, but Himes said she was looking forward to being recognized during the company’s 50th anniversary season — which includes a new presentation of For Colored Girls later this year.
“Three of the seven women from my original company of For Colored Girls are now gone,” Himes said, referring to Cann, Jennifer Beavers‑Wright and Linda Kennedy. “It’s more than I can bear.”
Cann’s influence extended far beyond the stage. She spent years working with young people as an administrator with St. Louis Public Schools, championing their voices and possibilities. She later founded the 40 Corners Street Theater Company for young people, continuing her commitment to nurturing emerging artists.
Her artistic reach was broad. She was a founding member of The Black Rep and one of three founding members of the New York‑based poetry collective PotLuck Poets. “She was a wonderful, wonderful, very creative writer and poet,” Himes said. “Back in the days when everybody thought they could write poetry, she was one of those who proved it to be true. She really had that gift, and she loved to share it.”
She wrote Black magical fiction, performed with ease, and mentored anyone who needed encouragement — especially young artists.
Her faith was central to her life. She was an active member of St. Peter’s A.M.E. Church and devoted herself to a 12‑Step program supporting families affected by addiction and alcoholism. She offered compassion without judgment and hope without hesitation.
Marsha met her husband, Clement Cann, on the WashU campus. Their partnership spanned 50 years of friendship and 40 years of marriage — a union built on art, devotion and shared purpose. They surrounded themselves with godchildren, nieces, grandnieces and a grandnephew who adored them.
Himes said The Black Rep plans to establish a scholarship in her name to support young people in the Summer Performing Arts Program — a tribute to her lifelong commitment to nurturing the next generation. “It’s on me to continue to build on this foundation that she was so instrumental in building,” he said. “Our education programs are so closely tied to her commitment to young people, to education, and to being an artist and being an activist.”
She traveled widely, loved fiercely and gave generously. She leaves behind her husband, Clement; nieces Kemba Russell, Wendy House and Angela House; grandnieces Lauren Lige and Logan Jackson; and grandnephew Aderemi Kayode.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Ural House Sr. and Jessie House; her sister, Annie House Russell; and her brothers, Ural House Jr. and Albert Ray House.
“To have known Marsha Cann was to have been loved — fully, intentionally and without condition,” her family said in a statement. “Though Marsha’s earthly journey has paused, the love she shared, the lives she touched, and the legacy she left will endure among all who knew and loved her. Now, our Marsha is free to be everywhere.”
Final Services for Marsha Cann are as follows:
A visitation will be held on Friday, October 2, 2026, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Layne Renaissance Chapel, 7302 West Florissant Avenue in St. Louis. A second visitation will take place on Saturday, October 3, 2026, from 10 to 11 a.m. at St. Peter A.M.E. Church, 4730 Margaretta in St. Louis. The Celebration of Life will immediately follow at 11 a.m. at St. Peter A.M.E. Church.