Raymond Einar Berg, M.D.

A native Californian, Dr. Berg was born in San Francisco to Norwegian American parents. He made his first trip to Norway at the age of two months, traveling with his family across the Atlantic aboard the SS Bergensfjord. Dr. Berg would forever treasure his Norwegian heritage, and returned to Norway many times during his life to visit beloved relatives and delight in the country’s spectacular scenery and familiar culture.

Growing up during the Great Depression, Dr. Berg spent his early childhood living on his Uncle John’s ranch in Auburn, CA, where there was always food to eat but also work to be done. From a young age, Dr. Berg helped tend to the animals and fruit orchards. His favorite chore was milking the cows. Despite the hard times and hard work, Dr. Berg always remembered his years on the ranch as idyllic, and it was on the ranch that he developed his strong work ethic and deep appreciation for life and the great outdoors.

Throughout grade school, Dr. Berg continued to spend summers on the ranch but returned home to San Francisco each year for formal schooling. He was a popular student at Balboa High School, where he earned numerous athletic and academic honors and graduated valedictorian in June 1947. He attended University of California, Berkeley, where he was a scholarship student, member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and sports reporter for The Daily Californian. He completed his premedical studies in three years, receiving his undergraduate degree in 1950. In 1954, he received his medical degree from UCSF School of Medicine.

A rotating internship at D.C. General Hospital in Washington, D.C., was followed by a first-year residency in general surgery at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City, then a major teaching hospital in Greenwich Village. In 1956, Dr. Berg’s medical training was interrupted when he was commissioned into the U.S. Navy Medical Corps, where he served as ship’s surgeon aboard the carrier USS Lexington (CV-16) based in Yokosuka, Japan. In 1958, he returned to San Francisco to complete his residency in orthopaedic surgery at University of California Hospitals.

Dr. Berg found his life’s calling as a practicing physician and was a dedicated, brilliant orthopaedic surgeon. He truly loved his work and bettered the lives of nearly 30,000 patients over the course of his long career. He maintained a private practice in Orange County, CA, for more than 48 years, 30 of which he was on the medical staff of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach. He enjoyed working locum tenens assignments across the country and served as a Qualified Medical Examiner and consultant to both the California and Washington state departments of workers’ compensation. He held medical licenses in six states and staff appointments at 29 hospitals. He was still seeing patients on January 16, 2020, the day he received his cancer diagnosis.

Perhaps the professional accomplishment of which he was most proud was the founding of the Newport Center Ambulatory Surgical Facility (now Hoag Newport Center Surgicare) in the late 1970’s. With vision and perseverance, Dr. Berg fought to overcome then-existing state regulatory obstacles and the resistance of the local medical community to establish a privately funded, outpatient surgical facility, only the 35th in the country, confident that outpatient surgery was the way of the future.

Dr. Berg was a Diplomat of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and member of numerous medical societies. He was a former Director of Sports Medicine at University of California, Irvine, and co-founder of the Squaw Valley Orthopaedic Clinic, Lake Tahoe. In 1977, he served as a volunteer attending surgeon with Orthopaedics Overseas in Tunisia.

With his limitless curiosity, adventurous spirit and joie de vivre, Dr. Berg lived an exceptional life pursuing his passions and enthusiastically sharing them with family and friends. From his father, he gained a lifelong love of hunting, fishing and boating. He became an avid, accomplished sailor, owning many boats over the years, including the Nautor Swan 37 Heidi, which he sailed 13,000 miles from Finland to the Mediterranean, the Romsdal 65 North Sea trawler Viking, which he maintained in the Pacific Northwest, and the Islander 48 Lorelei, which he and his family sailed off the California coast for 20 years. He loved to fly and became a licensed pilot, owning two Cessna single-engine aircraft. He enjoyed hiking and camping in the wilderness and logged 80,000 miles with his family in their beloved RV. He was a world traveler with a passion for languages. He was an expert downhill skier well into his 70’s with an elegant style perfected in the Austrian Alps. A serious humorist, Dr. Berg never missed an opportunity to dispense laughter, and his quick wit and well-timed jokes, puns and limericks will be sorely missed.

Dr. Berg was a Master Mason and 60-year member of Balder (now Columbia) Lodge in San Francisco. He was a 65-year member of Sons of Norway, never missing an annual lutefisk dinner. He was a 47-year member of Newport Harbor Yacht Club, where he spent many happy times with family and friends. Balboa High School remained important to him throughout his life, and he was an active member of the school’s alumni association.

Dr. Berg’s greatest pride and joy was his family. He is survived by his loving wife of 35 years, Lori Doyn Nelson, their two sons, Jon Nelson Berg and Peter Nikolai Berg (Anne Bowler), and his son from a previous marriage, Eric Christopher Berg (Cindy Morris). He also is survived by his sisters, Ellen Kilham and Mildred Lubimir. Dr. Berg was preceded in death by his parents, Einar Joachim Nicolai Berg of Os, Norway, and Synneva Augusta Olava Ruud of Waterville, WA, and his sister, Evelyn Berg.

The family would like to express its gratitude to the exceptional doctors, nurses and staff at City of Hope National Medical Center for the outstanding, compassionate care they provided Dr. Berg during his illness.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, a private funeral service was held for Dr. Berg on July 11, 2020, at Pacific View Memorial Park, Corona del Mar, CA. Memorial donations may be made to the Masonic Homes of California. Checks made payable to California Masonic Foundation may be mailed to: Masons of California, Attn: Denise Avila, 1111 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.