He wrote some history here.
If Rick Berg had died 25 years ago — even without the drama of a hostage situation — it would have been Page One news here in Madison WI. As it was, only a paid obituary in Sunday’s WI State Journal announced his death 11-11-23 in hospital, with family at his side. As in politics, his true passion, timing is everything.
His decline had been long, gradual, and sad. Like too many of his friends, we had lost track.
Rick Berg was this blogger’s best friend for a good long time. When he was “on” he was bright as that Lambeau Field sun that blinded Charger receivers. Some of his decisions dropped jaws among his many friends. As he once admitted, he had no sense for money but he did possess a keen feel for electoral politics. Say this, he was never boring! Raucous laughter usually began within 10 minutes of a Berg encounter. If Rick had a hobby, it was planning new houses for his next move. His entry in our address book had many scratch outs.
Rick popped up in many places in local, county, and state government — he was his own Where’s Waldo? He wrote Governor Scott McCallum’s inaugural address, was spokesman for the new WI Lottery when that was big news, served on the Madison school board in the 1980s when our schools made sense, and almost knocked Joe Sensenbrenner out of the mayor’s office, only for Paul Soglin to prevail in his second stint.
Never afraid to poke Madison liberals in the eye, he could befriend Democrat(ic) warhorse Ed Garvey. Idolized Tommy Thompson, who interviewed Rick for his first chief of staff and always found a place for him in state government. Rick Berg was a former Dane County Republican party chairman but was never Trump from the beginning and insisted on saying so.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Always thought Rick resembled the Campbell’s Soup kid. An excellent writer, his greatest talent was making friends. Many a beer and a hamburger await consumption in his memory.
7 responses to “Goodbye, Rick Berg”
[…] This post originally appeared at https://davidblaska.com/2023/11/20/goodbye-rick-berg/ […]
Sincere condolences; one of the measures of a true friend’s departure is how long it takes you to get past the sadness that it’s ended to the joy that it happened.
The Gotch
Sorry to hear. Never met the man but obviously a friend of yours. My condolences.
A bitter loss and sad goodbye indeed. Rick treasured your friendship, David. How do I know? I hitched a ride with him a time or two and he told me so. Seemed like he told me everything during those long short rides. Remember the degree to which Rick loathed Trump? To that same degree he loved you, David, as he loved his family (and, of course, his favorite musician of all time — Mark Knopfler.)
Your excellent memorial does him proud, David. May Rick’s spirit live on and on. And by God’s grace and will, may his soul rest in peace.
With your permission:
https://genius.com/Mark-knopfler-redbud-tree-lyrics
I knew that this day was coming, but it still takes away all my focus today on doing other things in preparation for hosting Thanksgiving.
I first met Rick when we were in Jefferson County Young Democrats Organization in the late 1960’s. We hung out a lot in first half of the 1970’s when we were both attending UW-MADISON. Lost contact a few years later as I moved an hour away from Madison and we both started our families.
I was grateful to to get reacquainted with Rick ~6 years ago through a mutual friend. I helped Rick with some of his difficulties due to his declining health, wish that I could have done more.
A favorite place for Rick to enjoy a hamburger was at Wedl’s in Jefferson. It was always a great time to share a burger and beverage with Rick! Rest in Peace my friend.
Thank you for writing this article. It’s been a joy reading this and all of the comments from friends.