Tag Archives: Mark R. Berman

Mark R. Berman ’69

 

Mark R. Berman, a fixture of the local business community who enjoyed a second career as a college administrator, died at his home in Williamsburg, MA on Friday, May 5, 2017, after a brief illness. He was 65.

Berman graduated from Williston Academy in 1969. He earned his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University in 1973, where he lettered in men’s swimming. He obtained an MBA and law degree from Syracuse in 1976. In 1977, Berman joined the management of Yale Genton, the venerable West Springfield clothier started by his grandfather. He served as general manager, vice president and eventually president of Yale Genton. In 2008, Berman followed his passion for education and joined the administration of American International College in Springfield as associate vice president for educational enterprise. He later became executive vice president for administration. During his tenure at AIC, Berman was instrumental in a number of major initiatives, including significant capital improvements on campus.

Throughout his business career, Berman devoted his time and talents to a host of local institutions, including as a board member at the Clarke School for the Deaf, the UMass Fine Arts Center, the Springfield Library and Museums, and Baystate Health Systems. He was a past director of the West Springfield Chamber of Commerce and a corporator at the Springfield Institute for Savings. His colleagues and associates will remember him as a leader and mentor who was wholeheartedly devoted to the institutions of which he was a part. He was a man of great personal dignity, and afforded that same dignity to everyone he met.

Berman is survived by his loving wife, Martha G. Baker; his stepchildren, Michael C. Moran and Jennifer E. Norris, and their spouses, Melissa M. Moran and William J. Norris; and his grandchildren, Claire, Ryan, Liam, and Henry. With Martha, Mark joyfully left the office behind, traveled the world, improved his golf game, read voraciously, mastered the grill, perfected the gimlet, relaxed on the beach in his beloved Westport, welcomed the arrival of four grandchildren, and relished in his new role as their “Papa.”