Marcus Michael Kaye (neé Kaizer) was born in London in 1898, the son of immigrants from Kovno, Russian Empire (now Kaunas, Lithuania). He joined the Royal Flying Corps and served as a flight lieutenant during the First World War. After the war he obtained a First in Mechanical Sciences at Cambridge and worked for Shell-Mex. After his retirement he became a sculptor, exhibiting at Ben Uri and other galleries.
Sculptor Marcus Michael Kaye (neé Kaizer) was born in London, England in 1898, the son of Jewish immigrants from Kovno in the Russian Empire (now Kaunas, Lithuania). His father, Myer Kaye, was initially a teacher at the South London Jewish School. In 1902, when he was appointed Head of the Hebrew School in Liverpool, the family moved north. They returned to south London in 1910, where both parents were appointed Headmaster and matron, respectively, of the Jewish Orphanage in Norwood, where Kaye spent the remainder of his childhood. He was educated at Dulwich College, afterwards joining the Royal Flying Corps. During the First World War he served as a flight lieutenant of no. 18 Squadron in France. He was held as a prisoner of war in Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland), from where he twice escaped and was recaptured, only to be sentenced to solitary confinement. Mentioned in dispatches (as a result of his escape attempts), he was awarded Distinguished Service Order with Bar (DSO). After the war, he obtained a First in Mechanical Sciences at Cambridge University and joined Shell-Mex as a specialist in industrial lubricants.
During the Second World War, Kaye served in the RAF and played an active role in planning the Dunkirk, Dieppe and D-Day operations, reaching the rank of wing-commander; he was awarded an OBE in 1945. After his retirement from Shell-Mex, Kaye became a sculptor, exhibiting in the annual group exhibitions at Ben Uri Gallery (1968–74, 1977–81, 1986–87), and the 1975 summer exhibition, as well as at other galleries. He mainly produced plaster and terracotta figures and portraits, among them Wrestler (1962), a portrait of his mother (1962) and of actor Anthony Moffat (1972), heads of a French and an American girl (1978). One of his outstanding pieces, a bust of Sir Barnes Wallace, was placed in the RAF Club in Piccadilly. Kaye was a member of the Society of Portrait Sculptors. Marcus Kaye died in Westminster Hospital in London, England in 1984 and is buried in Golders Green cemetery. His work is not represented in any UK public collections.