Marc Dubin, a leading English-language travel writer specialising in Greece, Turkey, and the eastern Mediterranean, has died at the age of 70. He contributed to and edited guidebooks for more than four decades, working with publishers such as Rough Guides, Insight Guides, Berlitz, DK Eyewitness, and Lonely Planet.
Dubin, who was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Beverly Hills, graduated in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1977 before beginning his travels. In the late 1970s, he left California to travel through Central America before settling in Europe. He financed his early travels by working as a photographer, producing postcard images of the Mediterranean.
By the early 1980s, he was contributing to Lonely Planet guidebooks. He later became a dependable writer for Rough Guides, producing guides to Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, and the Balkans. His interests extended beyond guidebooks to include Byzantine churches, Ottoman architecture, rebetika music, and contemporary Greek politics.
Dubin was diagnosed with a brain tumour 12 years ago but continued his work, updating Berlitz’s Greek Islands guide at the time of his death. He is survived by his wife, Zdravka Mihaylova, and his sisters, Vivian and Gail.