Descended from a Iaşi clerical family, his great-grandfather was the Romanian Orthodox archimandrite Gherasim Mârzescu, while his father Gheorghe Mârzescu was a prominent member of the city's liberal circles. He attended high school in his native city, began studying Law at the University of Iaşi, obtained his degree in the field from the University of Bucharest and studied for but did not complete a Law doctorate at the University of Paris. In 1896, he worked as chief of staff at the Religious Affairs and Education Ministry headed by his father, and himself entered the PNL in 1901. Between 1901 and 1904, he was administrative director of Sfântul Spiridon Hospital and a substitute professor of civil law at the University of Iaşi. From 1904 to 1906, he headed the liberal newspaper Liberalul