Auburn professor's life, struggle inspire

The bases are loaded in the final game in the College of Business softball league. The score is 13-2 as the 9th inning arrives.

The batter steps up to the plate and hits a ball deep into left field. Instead of dashing to second he stops at first.

As the next batter steps up, the base runner steals second and breaks the teams record for most bases stolen in a season.

"It didn't mean anything because we were losing," said Andrew McLelland, associate professor school of accountancy.

"It was just that he was going to have some fun and he was a good sportsmen."

Mark Bertus, associate professor of finance, left memories like these to remind the world of his positive outlook on life.

Despite undergoing numerous surgeries and stages of chemotherapy Bertus lost his three year battle with stage four colon cancer Jan. 26.

Bertus was diagnosed with the disease Oct. 16, 2007, at the East Alabama Medical Center.

A week later Ronda Bertus, Mark's wife, began posting a blog, markscancer.blogspot.com, where friends, family, Auburn faculty and students could go to stay up to date with his condition.

"It seems as if time has stopped and at the same moment time is flying by," Ronda posted Oct. 23, 2007, a week after learning of the diagnosis.

For three years Ronda kept up with posting the blog through the good and bad times of Mark's fight with the disease.

"It is with heavy heart I write one last time," Ronda wrote. "Mark passed this morning. His suffering has ended and he is no longer in pain. He was surrounded by family and he went in peace."

Mark was born in Bartlesville, Okla. and attended the University of Oklahoma where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1995, then switched to finance and graduated with a Ph.D. in 2003.

Along with four other professors, Mark and McLelland were hired in the fall of 2002.

"He would be busy, ready to go to class, working on a research paper," McLelland said. "No matter what, if you went in (his office) he would say 'Hey buddy, what's going on?' In other words, he always seemed to care more about what you were doing than what he was doing."

Mark was promoted to assistant professor in 2003 and remained in that position until 2008 when he was promoted to associate professor.

John Jahera, head department of finance, oversaw Mark's career from the interview process.

"I saw him develop professionally very quickly after his arrival here," Jahera said. "He wasn't just here toworkan8to5typeday. Sometimes we hire faculty, and it's a job. That's it, nothing more. He was very committed to Auburn."

During his eight year teaching career at Auburn, Mark received various teaching honors including the Outstanding MBA Teacher of the Year Award in 2005 and 2006 and the Department of Finance Teacher of the Year in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

"I joked at the service that if they re-ran his tapes he might win in 2010, too," McLelland said.

While Mark was diagnosed in 2007 he continued teaching until the fall of 2009.

Mark's dedication as a professor has remained with students after their departure from Auburn University.

Kevin Moen, a 2009 graduate of industrial and systems engineering, submitted a letter to the editor regarding the impact of Bertus as a professor.

"Throughout college, I'm pretty sure every student had those days where they just didn't want to get up for that 8 a.m. class or thought the stress of finals was too much so they took a trip to the medical clinic for an excuse," Moen wrote. "When you see a visibly ill person standing in front of a classroom making no excuses and going about business as usual it really makes all your own problems seem minutely insignificant."

McLelland delivered the eulogy at Mark's funeral and ended it with a passage from Ronda's blog.

"Mark was a wonderful man who taught me to love deeper than I thought I was capable, laugh more than I thought possible and live in each and every moment," Ronda posted Jan 30. "He was a great husband, father, teacher and coach."