Arthur Berger, passed away at home on Monday morning, as peacefully and quietly as he lived. He died of Alzheimer’s disease and Vascular Dementia. He was 85. In 1951, Art met Helen and married her following a whirlwind three-week courtship. Together they enjoyed a life filled with music, the arts, and travel. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on July 1, surrounded by their children, grandchildren and Florida family. He was a brilliant chess player, earning a Master ranking with the U.S. Chess Federation, an accomplished bridge player, pinochle player, amateur photographer, and athlete, enjoying tennis, bowling, and volleyball. At 24, Art earned his doctoral degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and went on to complete post-doctoral training at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. After graduation, he worked for A.E. Staley of Decatur. The majority of his career was as a research chemist with Baxter Laboratories in Morton Grove where he headed teams of scientists that were awarded more than 25 patents for organic compounds, from pharmaceuticals to the additives that significantly extend the shelf life of donated blood. His groundbreaking work made a difference, and always will. Art is survived by Helen; daughter Sandy, of Mission, Texas, daughter Leslie, of San Mateo, California; and son Barry, also of of Mission, his wife, Tracy and their four children David, Rachel, Joseph, and Sarah; Art is also survived by his sister Evelyn; niece Mary; and nephew Harold, of the Chicago area, and nephew Eliot, of Miami, Florida. In lieu of flowers, the family requests planting a tree in Israel with a donation to the Jewish National Fund (www.jnf.org or 1-800542-TREE), or donating to a favorite medical research organization. Ric Brown Family Funeral Home in Mission, Texas is in charge of all local arrangements.
