Mark Alan Pickard

May 28, 1961 - April 23, 2012

Cary

Mark Alan Pickard, best known to friends and family as 'Pic', passed away in the early hours of April 23 at home in Cary, N.C. after a long battle with Metastatic Melanoma. He was 50 years old. Mark's tireless bravery and unwavering faith inspired so many, from neighbors and friends to the many individuals he encountered on his journey from Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida to the Duke University Cancer Center, to his final hours at home where he was surrounded by family.

Mark was the son of Jerry Wayne Pickard and Thelma Ann Pickard, who pre-deceased him. He grew up in Asheboro, N.C. where he attended Asheboro High School as a star football and baseball player. He went on to attend East Carolina University where he met the love of his life and wife of 29 years, Missy. He later went on to earn a degree in Economics from UNC-Chapel Hill, a detail that did not stop him from becoming a lifelong fan of Duke basketball and teaching his children how to correctly spell Krzyzewski as toddlers.

Mark loved his career as District Manager at Precoat Metals and working with many beloved colleagues, and his clients in the Southeast. He was also a true ECU Pirate, traveling to football games in spite of Stage IV cancer, and a lover of all things beaches, Jimmy Buffett, and driveway parties with neighborhood friends whom he considered family. He had an inimitable gift for making friends wherever life took him; to know him was to love him.

He is survived by wife, Missy; two children who share his smile, Mallory, 25 and Chase, 22; beloved sister Brenda Brady, her husband Donnie, and their children Brian Brady and Carrie Thurman; Gretchen and Allen Aldridge, the mother and father-in-law who loved Mark like a son; sisters-in-law Kappy Johnson and Dudley Rose, best friend and brother-in-law Allen Aldridge Jr., and their families; and countless aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, and friends whose incredible love and support cannot be measured.

The family would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to Doctors Morse, Weber, and Galanos, all the nurses of 9300 Duke Hospital, and special nurses Ashley Scoggans and Angela Richardson.

Visitation will be held at Genesis United Methodist Church in Cary on Thursday, April 26 at 10 a.m., followed by a memorial service at 11 a.m. Friends are invited to Rives Chapel Baptist Church Cemetary in Siler City for the graveside service at 3 p.m.

Memorial contributions may be made in Mark's memory to: Genesis United Methodist Church, 850 High House Road, Cary NC 27513.

Condolences may be sent through: www.BrownWynneCary.com