Gladstone Berk Kellogg

Berk Kellogg died on Monday April 10th, 2017, having just celebrated his 92nd birthday. Berk was a long-time resident of Corona del Mar, having migrated here from San Marino in the 1950s along with several of his friends, war buddies and former school-mates. Berk married Laura (Laurie) Elizabeth Barnum in 1955 and they remained together until her death in 2011.

Berk was born on March 31, 1925 to Glad and Violet Kellogg in Santa Monica, California and spent his formative years in Pasadena and San Marino. He graduated from South Pasadena High school in 1943. Berk served in the U.S. Army in the European theater from 1943 until the end of the war as a cannoneer in a tank destroyer. He avoided being sent to the Pacific theater by shipping out early with a group being deployed to Europe. WWII was a formative experience for him because he found that, although he was small, he had more endurance than bigger and stronger men and he could function well while under fire. Only the cannoneer and gunner stayed on the tank destroyer when the gun was in use. His job was to keep the cannon loaded. Berk was awarded the WWII victory medal, good conduct medal, AR 600-68 American Service Medal, European African Middle Eastern Service Medal with 3 Bronze Stars. He received a commendation signed by President Harry Truman.

After the war he studied business at the University of Colorado in Boulder, graduating with a BS in 1948; he later said that he chose the University of Colorado so he could ski. For him, Skiing was a life-long passion and he later retired early just so he could spend his winters skiing in Sun Valley, Idaho. His last time skiing was at the age 82 in Sun Valley; when his ski came off and he had trouble getting his boot back in the binding; he knew it would be his last run, it was a very sad day for him.

In the years after the war through the early 1970s he also took up surfing and was a member of the San Onofre Surfing club until it disbanded when San Onofre Beach was opened to the public. Berk also enjoyed sailing and helped to sail a boat from New York to Los Angeles through the Panamas Canal in 1953. The boat caught fire off of the coast of Baja California somewhere near Rosarita beach and had to be abandoned. He took the opportunity of his early return to the US to search out Laurie who had moved up to Squaw Valley to work at the resort during it’s second year of operation. He convinced her he was serious about their relationship despite the fact that he’d signed on for the sailing trip and not long afterwards they got engaged to be married.

Following the death of his father in 1953, Berk started working as a banker at the First City Bank in Rosemead and Pasadena. Not long after his father passed away, he took over as President and Chairman of the Board until it was sold to Golden State Sanwa Bank (later Union Bank) in 1982. He was also the president of the Small Banker’s Association for a while in the 1970’s and lobbied congress to loosen banking regulations.

In the late 1950’s, he and Laurie decided to establish their family in Corona del Mar and he commuted to Rosemede every day so that Laurie and their two children, Gregg and Kim, could live by the beach. Once his children were grow and out of the house, Berk decided it was time for the next phase of their lives.

After selling the bank, Berk served on the boards of Golden State Sanwa Bank and Community Bank. He and Laurie spent their time split between Corona del Mar and Ketchum Idaho, where he focused successfully on bond investments and skiing as much as possible. They made driving trips through much of the United States and traveled often abroad in Europe and made a few trips to the U.S.S.R, Asia, Africa, and South America. A typical day was spent doing his investments in the morning and taking a bike ride or walk around Corona del Mar, Balboa Island or the Back Bay in the afternoons.

Berk is survived by his son Gregg Barnum Kellogg, daughter Margaret Kimberly Kellogg (now Kimberly Kellogg Belvin), grand-children Andrew Kellogg, Carl Red Bird, Lena Belvin and Thomas Belvin, as well as great-grand child Branden Kellogg.