Retired Major Mark L. Berg, 77, of Sioux Falls, died Sunday, April 19, 2020, at Avera McKennan Hospital.

Private family services will be held, and burial will take place at Eventide Cemetery in Woonsocket. A public memorial service will be held at a later date.

Mark was born at Denver, Colo. on July 23, 1942, son of Vernon and Ruth Berg. After graduating from Woonsocket High School in 1960, he enrolled in ROTC at South Dakota State University to pursue his dream of being a USAF aviator. He completed his BS in Agriculture Ops and was commissioned in 1966.

He attended various flight training schools before completing his tour in Southeast Asia. Mark completed over 200 combat missions as an F-4D pilot and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. After an assignment in Germany, he then joined the South Dakota Air National Guard in 1973. In 1978, he then transferred to the Georgia Air National Guard where he retired in 1984.

Mark continued his education at Augustana University and received his BA in Business Administration in 1986 and MS in Human Resources in 1987. He became a therapist/counselor for special needs children for 11 rural school districts before retiring in 1998.

He is survived by his children, Jeff (Jeanne) Berg of Riverview, Fla., Kari (Mark) McNeary of Aberdeen, Scot Berg of Battle Ground, Wash., and Kimberly Berg of Hinesville, Ga.; 11 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and three sisters, Joyce Brown of Rapid City, Janis (Tom) Weatherford of Williamsburg, Iowa, and Vicki (Rich) Linke of Woonsocket.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Vernon and Ruth Berg.