Mark Bergman, age 54, died on Tuesday, October 16, 2001, at his home in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife Ronee and his canine companions, Hershey and Willie Nelson, at his side. Mark was part of our extended ICv2 family, a former Capitalista (employee of Capital City Distribution, Inc.), and a former employee of Diamond Comic Distributors.
He joined Capital as a video product manager in the early 90s, using his extensive knowledge of film, his skill with words, and his keen intelligence to source and market video products, write about the video industry, and handle relationships with manufacturers. He also served as an associate and contributing editor on Internal Correspondence -- the print predecessor of ICv2 -- for several years, ending in 1996 when Capital was sold to Diamond Comic Distributors. He then worked for Diamond for several years as a video brand manager. More recently, he had done fill-in editing at ICv2 in addition to pursuing other interests.
Mark's dry, sardonic humor, irreverence, contempt for hypocrisy, and warm spirit will be remembered by all who knew him. His loyalty to his friends and generosity to others will be missed. Mark is survived by his soul-mate and wife, Ronee (Epstein) Bergman; stepdaughter, Alisa Bergman; his mother, Alice Bergman of Waupaca, Wisconsin; sister, Katherine (Dennis) Parello of Chicago; mother-in-law, Sylvia Epstein; brother-in-law Dr. James Epstein of Boston; and numerous devoted friends and associates. He was preceded in death by his father, Robert; and his brother, Bruce.
A memorial service will be held at the UW Memorial Union Fredric March Play Circle, 800 Langdon St., Madison, on Sunday, October 21, 2001, at 4 p.m. A gathering to toast Mark's life will immediately follow the service at Nick's Restaurant, 226 State St. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Dane County Humane Society or the American Cancer Society. Cress Funeral Service -- 608-238-3434.
Sometimes the occasion calls for writing in the first person. This is one of those times.
I first met Mark when he was the roommate of John Davis--my partner at Capital City Distribution -- in the early 80s. He shared with John an intense interest in film, and was able to surround himself with his love as a projectionist at the UW Memorial Union Fredric March Play Circle, and as the campus film coordinator for the University of Wisconsin. I came to know him better when he came to work for Capital as video product manager in the early 90s. Our video business in anime and genre films was growing, and he was perfect for the job.
We soon found out that he was also an extremely skilled wordsmith, and knew the uses (and misuses) of the comma better than anybody in a building full of degreed, intelligent writers. He became an associate and contributing editor of Internal Correspondence, which at the time was a 50 to 100-page monthly magazine for pop culture retailers produced by Capital. I was the editor-in-chief, but it was Mark who did the heavy lifting of turning the raw material submitted by other product managers and marketers into copy that made IC more than just a promo piece. He also edited my writing for my monthly column -- 'World According to Griepp.'
Using Mark as an editor was an adventure. He enjoyed trying to slip irreverent comments about suppliers or customers past me, and took joy in taking it to the absolute limit, although I never knew him to harm the business by doing so. When I pulled out some old issues of the magazine today, I was immediately reminded that the place he was able to have the most fun was the area where he could get things into print without me ever seeing them -- our contributor bios. This was the one page of the magazine that I never saw before it went to press, and Mark took advantage of this by producing what was often the best and invariably the funniest writing in the magazine. He carried running jokes across years; used the entire panorama of current political, cultural, and industry events as a backdrop; and uniformly skewered his co-workers (and lots of others) without mercy.
Here's what he had to say about himself as editor in March of 1994 (this is all true):
Contributing Editor Mark Bergman, enjoys watching, the fights on TV, networking with his canine dog, animal pals, and toplining fine, Brazilian, dry, cured cigars. If he didn't fix the punctuality and ushas in IC the whole magazine, would read like this. Also Italian bikes.
And now, without further ado, here are Mark Bergman's Top 10 Internal Correspondence Contributor Bios. This is the un-annotated version, but most of these people are working elsewhere in the industry today (if you need to know who they are, ask somebody with gray hair). Each of the Top 10 is preceded by the month it appeared and the contributor bio theme of the month:
Mark Bergman's Top 10 Internal Correspondence Contributor Bios
10. May, 1996 -- Best wishes going out to an ill Ken Kreuger.
Tom McCarty. 'Ken, Harlan Ellison called and wondered if you'd like to swap any of your highly collectible veins, arteries, spleens, etc. for any of his.'
9. May, 1996 -- Best wishes going out to an ill Ken Kreuger.
Capital President Milton Griepp gently suggests, 'Ken, get out of bed, get dressed, and get the hell back to work! This is costing me money!'
8. May, 1996 -- Best wishes going out to an ill Ken Kreuger
Mark Bergman sends out a new job opportunity. 'Ken, Bob Dole called to see if you might want to run for VP-he needs someone to make him look young.'
7. January, 1995 -- New Years Resolutions.
Contributing Editor Mark Bergman vows to make a greater effort in 1995 to piss off Ralph Nader, Bill Bennett, Donna Shalala, PETA, Pat Robertson, Andrea Dworkin, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Anna Quindlen, Jesse Jackson, Sammy Blum, tree huggers, would-be gun controllers, the Pope, and all other enemies of liberty. His bios are longer than everybody else's because he writes most of them.
6.A two-fer from June (the Olympics)...
Tom Flinn, VP Product Management, is looking forward to the new event that melds track and field with baseball -- the Schodt put.
and July, 1996.
Editor-at-large and Video Product Manager Mark Bergman would like to point out that the misspelling of the name of a certain baseball owner on last month's contributors page was intentional -- so the ugly, fat stupid old cow wouldn't sue us.
5.December, 1995 -- The IC staff's recent activities.
Wayne Markley, just back from a whirlwind two-year tour of a major East Coast city, hit the road again to flog Capital products in the backwoods Jewish communities of northern Wisconsin. 'I went, Hassidim, and I came back,' he said, we think.
4.August, 1995 -- Summer re-runs.
Tom Flinn, Vice President of Product Management, spends so much time on the road that his wife has been forced to serve their rare home-cooked dinners on tiny trays covered with foil. She has drawn the line, however, at shrinkwrapping the silver, so Flinn makes do with plastic.
3.July, 1995 -- Summer movies.
Capital City Distribution, Inc. co-owner Milton Griepp is looking forward to Waterworld, which he says is sure to be a blockbuster next month. Oh, sorry, that's 'is sure to be at Blockbuster next month.'
2.January, 1996 -- New Year's resolutions.
Jon Leitheusser, Games and Novelties Product Manager, promises to try to stay out of the front row at Hole concerts when he gets released from the hospital, where he's having Courtney Love removed from his head.
And the #1 Mark Bergman Internal Correspondence contributor bio --
1.January, 1996 -- New Year's resolutions.
Mark Bergman, Video Product Manager and IC Associate Editor, who modestly declines credit for inventing the popular Zirconium of the Month feature, resolves to find out where Ambrose Bierce went and go hang out with him.
I guess that's probably where Mark's gone. Happy trails, old friend.
Milton Griepp
