Ilya Marmerstein, 83, of Mayfield Heights is a 1992 emigrant from Odessa, Ukraine. The husband of Maria Markovich and the son of a WWII veteran, he and his family fled persecution during WWII. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in mathematics. Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Soviet Jews in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life.