Donald Fred Berman

If only he could have known Don Berman, who passed away in hospice care on June 17 at the age of 83. Don was proof that genuinely nice guys finish first in the hearts and minds of those they enrich simply by going about the daily business of being a “nice guy.”

Don made his mark in Sun City Anthem in numerous ways, none of them more significant than his daily interactions with patrons and visitors at the Anthem Fitness Center, where he worked for years as a desk monitor.

More on that later.

Donald F. Berman was born in Cleveland, OH on January 10, 1934. He is survived by Andrea, his loving wife of 42 years; daughter Mindy; sons Michael and Jeffrey; grandchildren Sari, Crystal and Toma; and great grandchildren Ash

He was a person who worked hard all his life. A graduate of Cleveland Heights High School, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served for about two years before receiving an honorable medical discharge due to severe hearing loss.

Because of his outgoing personality, Don was an absolute natural in dealing with the public. He sold tile in his early years, and then he managed an appliance store and a scrap metal company on the west coast.

Both Don and Andrea had previous marriages, but his determination paid off when he told Andrea right at the beginning of their relationship that he was going to marry her. Which of course he did. He had a full head of hair then, but he also had that famous mustache.

Like many of us who maintain our passionate loyalty to our hometown sports teams for all our lives, even after moving away, Don never wavered in his loyalty to his childhood heroes: The Cleveland Browns and The Cleveland Indians.

Don and Andrea were among the first thousand or so residents of Sun City Anthem, arriving here in November of 2000, jut a few months after this reporter. Though both named Berman, we weren’t related, but our common last name fostered an immediate friendship between us.

As with so many residents who help make Sun City Anthem the great place it is, Don was always eager to take advantage of our community’s many opportunities to join and to give back.

In the formative days of the Veterans Club, Don provided important assistance to club founder Col Herb Blum, among other things volunteering to do the research for the name plates commemorating SCA’s military veterans in Veterans Memorial Hall in Anthem Center.

Don also served with pride in the Veterans Club Color Guard, which has enriched many of our solemn and patriotic events.

Don was a member of the Italian Forum; the International Culture Connections Club; the Performing Arts Club; Havurah; and he also played a bit of softball for a while.

But as he told Andrea and so many others, nothing made him happier than his years of working as a monitor at the Fitness Center.

For most of those years, the Fitness Center personnel were a true family, sharing their joy of interacting with their “customers” each and every day, and sometimes having extra fun on occasions such as Crazy Hat days.

As a Performing Arts Club (PAC) member, Don was recruited –more like shanghaied- for various cameo roles in shows, especially when he could support Andrea in her role as a performer or a show director. But his most frequent appearances for shows in Freedom Hall was as an usher, all dressed up with someplace to go.

What I’ll always remember about Don is simply how much I enjoyed being greeted by him and conversing about so many subjects, first and foremost our mutual love of our favorite sports teams. Always lots of good-natured ribbing. I called him the Cheshire Cat, because that wonderful, wide smile of his could be seen from halfway down the gallery while walking toward the Fitness Center.

The French term for it is “joie de vivre,” the exuberant enjoyment of life, and I know of no description that better fits Don Berman.

In recent years, Don suffered from a variety of ailments. The official cause of death was non-Hodgkins lymphoma, but he also had to deal with heart problems, stroke, bypass surgery, carotid artery surgery and chemotherapy, shingles and other problems.

Yet as so many who knew him at the Fitness Center can attest, he always managed to bounce back and return to the job he loved more than anything else except his sweetheart Andrea.

This time, however, Don and Andrea knew it was time for him to let go, and he passed in dignified fashion with his family by his side.

It was a genuine love story.

If you wish to remember Don Berman in a suitable manner, I have two suggestions for you:

First, consider a donation in Don’s memory to the wonderful, caring folks at Nathan Adelson Hospice.

The address is 4141 Swenson Street, Las Vegas, NV 89119.

Second, memorialize Don each day of the rest of your life by being like he was; say a kind word or two to someone you happen to meet; put a smile on your face in place of a frown; commit acts of kindness in any way you can; accept people as they are and be guided by your better angels.

The love you get is equal to the love you give.