In 1969, on the eve of his 46th birthday, Marciano was a passenger in a small private plane, a Cessna 172, headed to Des Moines, Iowa. It was at night and bad weather set in. The pilot tried to land the plane on a small airfield outside Newton, Iowa, but the plane hit a tree two miles short of the runway. The passengers died almost instantly. He is entombed in a crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His widow, who died exactly five years after him at the age of 46, is entombed next to him.