In Memoriam

Denis Berry (BS Commerce) passed away at home on January 21, 2015, in Glendora, Calif. Berry, who was born in Chicago, graduated from Corpus Christi High School, in Galesburg, Ill., and received a BS in Commerce from the University of Notre Dame in 1956. In 1957, Berry married Carol Lea (Timberlake), who survives.

Following two years in the United States Army, Berry began his career in sales and marketing. He and his family moved to Glendora, Calif., in 1969, where he worked at Rain Bird Sprinklers Manufacturing Corp. until his retirement in 1989.

In retirement, Berry volunteered as an ombudsman for long-term care patients and an AARP tax preparer for senior citizens. He enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren, traveling, playing cards, and grilling the best Fourth of July ribs in Los Angeles County.

Rumor has it that he also occasionally paced in the front yard during the final minutes of Notre Dame football games.

In addition to his wife, Berry is survived by two sisters, four children, fourteen grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

A Mass will be celebrated at Notre Dame for Berry by the Holy Cross priests from his ND56 Classmates.

Joseph Kortan (BS Commerce), 83, passed away Dec. 6, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Diane, five children, nine grandchildren and two siblings. He was preceded in death by a son.

When Kortan wasn’t driving Ferraris and Lamborghinis in Northeast Ohio, he was putting around the world on a 125cc motorcycle for months at a time. Kortan, owner of the exotic car rental firm Motor Cars Masculine, and his wife took more than 20 international cycle trips, encountering more than their fair share of adventures. Along the way, they were attacked by hundreds of bees in India, took underground shelter from 120-degree heat and blinding sandstorms in Tunisia and survived an overnight kidnapping and robbery in Bolivia.