Mark A. Berg

1961 - 2021

Mark A. Berg

8/18/61-2/9/21

After a full and well-lived life, Emmy award-winning Director of Photography and Entrepreneur, Mark A. Berg, finished his assignment here on Earth and returned home to Heaven Tuesday morning, February 9, 2021.

Mark was an accomplished videographer/cameraman in the Detroit metro area. He covered some of the biggest news and sporting stories in Michigan and around the country for nearly 40 years. If you follow the NHL, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ABC News, NBC News or documentaries on PBS, you've probably seen his work.

A few highlights include documenting NHL's Zdeno Chara's climb to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2008, being on the ice and gathering footage for most of the NHL Stanley Cup raises, parades and celebrations between 1998-2019, covering the men's U.S hockey team at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, shooting interviews and game coverage for Big Ten Network's The Journey, covering numerous stories for NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, Dateline, MSNBC, ABC World News, Good Morning America, Nightline and 20/20.

Mark won an Emmy for his work on the 2008 PBS documentary, "Where Do the Children Play?", produced locally. He was nominated for a National Sports Emmy in 2013 for his work on The Journey and again in 2016 for his work with the NHL. He was also a member of the production team for the full-length feature film, Fordson: Faith, Fasting and Football, an award-winning documentary entered in several film festivals throughout the country in 2011.

While Mark did a lot of traveling for his career, he was a true Midwesterner. He was born in Milwaukee, raised in Neenah, graduating from Neenah High School in 1980 before heading to the University of Wisconsin-Superior to study Communications and Photography. He began his career as a videographer in 1983 at the CBS affiliate, KDLH-TV in Duluth, MN. He moved on to WBNS-TV in Columbus, OH and a couple years later came to Detroit, MI where he worked at WJBK-TV and WKBD-TV.

In 1991, Mark and his wife, Katy, started their own video production company, Great Lakes Teleproductions, Inc. and have shot and produced news, sports, corporate events and documentaries ever since.

Mark loved his work and truly enjoyed spending a day out in the field. He was a talented cameraman with a friendly smile, a warm laugh, and a quick wit. If Mark Berg was your photographer for the day, you would get what you needed and have a great time working with him.

While his career was an important part of Mark's life, his true love was his wife, his kids, his family and his close friends. Countless memories will be shared of the many, many family gatherings, vacations, cottage visits, fishing/camping trips and travels abroad. The amount of time spent chatting and laughing is only surpassed by the amount of time eating and sharing a beer or glass of wine. Mark considered himself a very lucky man.

He is survived by his loving wife, Katy, and their four grown children, Alexander, Amel, Benjamin (Anes) and Elliot; his parents, Allen and Dorothy, brother Scott (Joëlle), sisters Mary Alice and Kaye Lynn. He is an uncle to 8 nieces and nephews, a cousin, a nephew, a brother-in-law.

Mark became a friend with almost everyone he met. He was a confident and energetic person with a humble and caring heart.

The family would like to thank Dr. Adam Forman, oncologist & Dr. Eyad Abu-Isa, radiologist, both of the Assarian Cancer Center in Novi, MI as well as their nurses and staff; the nurses in the neuro-ICU and Oncology floors at Ascension Providence Park Hospital, Novi Campus for their unwavering devotion and care for their patients.

The family will celebrate a private funeral mass for Mark at St. Joseph Catholic Church in South Lyon. Arrangements made with the help of Phillips Funeral Home, South Lyon.

Due to Covid, A Celebration of Life will be held at a date TBD.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation on Mark's behalf to one of these worthy causes:

Glioblastoma Foundation - There is so much more work and research that needs to be done to eradicate this wicked disease.

Your local food bank: Mark felt no one, especially children, should go hungry in this country.

Assarian Cancer Center, Novi, MI: So they may continue their important work of treating and caring for patients.

As Mark would say during a shoot or just in general, "Keep your feet moving and finish strong." He lived up to his motto on both accounts and he will be truly missed.