In 1959, Mr. Zubar opened his own studio in South Philadelphia, Marat Zubar Studios on the 100 block of League Street, where he focused his attention on pieces for churches, synagogues and community projects.
Mr. Zubar's work can be seen in religious buildings across the country. He designed the stained glass windows at Randolph-Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, Va., St. Josaphat's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Rochester, N.Y., and the Boys Town Chapel in Boys Town, Neb., family members said.
He also designed stained glass windows in the area for La Salle College, the University of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Civic Center, the Mount Airy Jewish Community Center and the Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential.
His work in metals include the bronze addition of the Eternal Flame to the Tomb of the Revolutionary Soldier in Washington Square and a light sculpture for the Beth Zion-Beth Israel Temple.
"When I am working for a synagogue, I cry with tears," Mr. Zubar said in an interview with The Inquirer six years ago. "When I do Roman Catholic churches, I become very devout."
His colorful speech was matched with a flair for the dramatic, said friends and family. He was known once to have entered a party in the 1960s through a
window - a "typical Marco grand entrance," said his daughter, Nadya Marat Zubar of Philadelphia.
And sometimes, said a longtime friend, Mr. Zubar "would shave his head and just leave a strip of hair on the top . . . He always like to be the center of attention."
"Everybody respected him very much for his art work and his talent as an artist," said Martha Shyprykevich, who met Mr. Zubar 25 years ago at a Ukrainian art exhibit. "But he was a very eccentric personality, which made him much more interesting. He would be overpowering sometimes."
He often rode his bicycle - wearing a blazer and tie - through the Italian Market where he would shop, his daughter said.
She described Mr. Zubar as an opinionated man who was driven by his work. ''He knew that beyond everything else, that was what he was put on this earth to do," Nadya Zubar said. "He just knew that was his divine calling."
Mr. Zubar was a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Guild for Religious Architecture, the American Society of Church Architecture, the
Artists Equity Associates, the Stained Glass Association of America and the Philadelphia Art Alliance.
Besides his daughter, Mr. Zubar is survived by a son, Mir Marat Lada-Zubar of Toronto, Ontario.
A religious service will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at Nasevich Funeral Home, 109 E. Tabor Rd., Philadelphia. A funeral is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday at Nasevich. Interment will follow at St. Andrews Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Cemetery in South Bound Brook Borough, Somerset County, N.J.