Marty Lagina is an American Engineer and TV personality born on 26 August 1955 in Kingsford, Michigan USA. He’s known for appearing in reality series “The Curse of Oak Island” along his brother Rick.
Early Life
Marty was born the second child of Ann. C and George Jacob Lagina. There’s not much information about Marty’s childhood, though it’s known his family is of Italian descent.
Although details about Marty’s early education are unheard of, it’s certainly known he attended Michigan Technological University, graduating from it with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1977. He continued with his studies and was awarded with a Juris Doctorate in 1982 by the University of Michigan.
Career
Engineering and Entrepreneurship
He worked as a petroleum engineer in Amoco Production Company during his time Law School, which helped him to pay for his studies.
In 1990 he founded Terra Energy Ltd., an energy company specialized in natural gas extraction which quickly became one of the biggest operations in his hometown Michigan. However, in 1995 he sold the company to CMS Energy for $60 million.
With the profits obtained, Marty invested on real state by buying shares of Chartwell Properties L.L.C. In 2004 Marty founded his second company Heritage Sustainable, business focused on providing clean and renewable energy to 57,000 homes per year in his hometown.
Mary Vineyards
Always passionate about wine due to his family’s heritage, in 1999 Marty Lagina founded Mari Vineyards, with the daring concept of growing rare grapes for Michigan such as Sangiovese and Nebbiolo.
Trying to produce an original, world class wine wasn’t easy though, and for six years in a row the vineyard failed to create a suitable product to fit Lagina’s expectations until 2006, when their first official product Row 7 was sold to the public. The name of this wine was chose in commemoration of the first seven rounds produced in the vineyard, which to date are still mysterious due to the mix of a huge variety of grapes on it.
Nowadays Mary Vineyards has exponentially grown from a small vineyard to own 60 acres of territory in Old Mission Peninsula. The brand also commercializes its products to a variety of local customers, restaurants and business.
Mary Vineyards also offers guided tours for clients passionate about wine who want to know the origin of the product they consume, or simply want a relaxing afternoon.
Oak Island Mystery
In 1965 Marty and his older brother Rick read ‘Oak Island’s Mysterious Money Pit’, a story published on a Reader’s Digest book about a man named Daniel McGinnis, who in 1795 discovered a strange opening on the ground at southern Oak Island in Nova Scotia.
Curious about this finding, McGinnis and a few friends excavated the hole and found various oak logs in what would be later known as “The Pit”. Due to this McGinnis became obsessed about finding a pirate treasure on the place, and the rumor expanded outside of the island attracting explorers interested on the supposed hidden treasure for over two centuries: ‘They didn’t know what to make of it, and every time they hit the oak they decided, ‘truly, under here is the treasure.’ They got down 30 feet and they could go no further’.
Not only civilians were interested on the island, many companies also tried to find what was hidden in Oak Island unsuccessfully, resulting on bankruptcy for many of them.
The golden boys, #RickLagina and #MartyLagina from @CurseOfOak want to give you a chance to win gold thanks to the @History Channel! Find out more! #Contest #Gold #NotRickAndMortyhttps://t.co/Oe4kE00t6W
— Nerd News Social (@NerdNewsSocial) April 16, 2020
However, money was not the only thing lost in those explorations, as to date six men have tragically died on accidents related to the search of the treasure, inspiring a legend which states seven men will die in order for the riches under Oak Island to be discovered.
Due to the mystery that represents Oak Island, Marty and his brother bought shares of Oak Island Tours Inc., in 2007, though the association eventually dissolved and now the island is owned by Michigan Group, owned as well by the Lagina brothers along with Craig Tester and Alan Kostrzewa.
There are many rumors on what Oak Island’s treasure could be, which include possible artifacts of Knights Templar, Aztec Empire or Solomon’s Temple. It’s also theorized famous pirate Captain Kidd was in charge of hiding those artifacts on the place.
To date Marty and his brother Rick have not found any major treasure on the island, though various items such as Spanish scissors and coins, pieces of wood and even human bones have been found on “The Pit”: ‘All of those things. None of those things should be on this island’.
However, despite their interest on the island, Marty and his brother are more interested on solving the mystery than on what the real treasure could be: ‘Truthfully, I really don’t have a theory. It’s quite remarkable. We don’t know what we’re searching for, we’re spending all this money we’re actively engaged in the search, and we don’t know’
TV Show
“The Curse of Oak Island” is a TV series focused on Oak Island’s mystery and Lagina brother’s effort to find the ancient treasure rumored to be on the depths of “The Pit”.
The show was premiered in 2014 on History Channel, and has gathered the attention of viewers interested on either the alleged curse that surrounds the island or on the crew’s efforts and excavations.
Due to the big mystery surrounding the place, it’s not a surprise “The Curse of Oak Island” have found detractors as well on its way. However, the brothers have insisted their interest does not come from ambition but by their natural curiosity, as Rick Lagina commented in an interview with MyNorth: ‘The possibilities of this story are so rich. There’s a wonderful story on Oak Island waiting there to be written. Is the treasure still there? I believe it is. But whether or not there actually is a treasure, there is a wonderful story there. We hope that we can fill in some of those blank pages.’
Although the possibilities of finding something historically important are exciting, Marty finds himself equally intrigued and skeptic: ‘I often scratch my head and think, ‘What happened on this island?’ There’s a lot of room for misinterpretation, but then I’ll think, ‘Well, my son just pulled coconut fiber out of the shore of the ocean, and Craig—who knows what he’s doing—just dated the fiber to 1200 to 1400 AD. Now what the heck?’ But I just don’t know, and it bothers me that we may not succeed in finding out what happened on Oak Island.’
Other Shows
Besides “The Curse of Oak Island”, Marty Lagina has also appeared on its spin-off series “Drilling Down”.
He’s appears as well in mystery related series entitled “The Curse of Civil War Gold”, premiered in 2018 and focused on the search on a gold hoard worth $140 million, which supposedly disappeared in the 18th century.
Personal Life
Marty Lagina is married to Margaret Olivia Lagina, with who he has two children named Alex and Maddie.
How rich is Marty Lagina from Oak Island?
As a result of his many business ventures and appearances on TV, Marty Lagina has an estimated net worth of $100 millions.
Physical Appearance
Marty Lagina is a man of white ethnicity. His hair is black and his eyes brown. There’s no information about his current weight and height.
Interesting Facts
Marty’s son Alex also participates in explorations in Oak Island: ‘It’s an opportunity to spend time with my uncle and dad doing this crazy adventure, and that’s a great thing’ he told Michigan Today.
Marty’s wife Margaret Olivia is a Mechanical Engineer.
As of yet, Marty doesn’t have any grandchildren.
The original Reader’s Digest story Marty and Rick read in 1965 was written by Reginald V. Harris and its introduction can be found in Oak Island Tours’ website.
In an interview with MyNorth in 2014, Marty told the juvenile story on how his brother Rick became enthralled by Oak Island story: ‘I was the younger brother—and I probably didn’t even read the article—but he comes and tells me, ‘Hey, look at this! This is really cool!’ So he gets me really interested because, well, I’m the younger brother.’