Park district loses Mike Berger

Mike Berger Longtime resident Mike Berger resigned from the board of directors of Conejo Recreation and Park District in December after 24 years of service.

"Mike Berger is one of the most selfless people I know. He is all about serving and helping others. We will certainly miss him," said Jim Friedl, CRPD general manager.

Originally from Ohio, Berger was recruited by Los Angeles Unified School District to teach. In California, he and his wife, Carol, also a teacher, moved to Thousand Oaks to live and work. Berger worked in education for 37 years, the last 20 as a principal, before retiring two years ago.

Berger said it was great when The Oaks mall was built because then his family could shop locally rather than driving down the narrow 101 Freeway to the malls in the San Fernando Valley. He also recalled the excitement he felt when the 101 Freeway was widened.

When Berger moved to Thousand Oaks in the 1970s, the population was about 49,000. He was involved with his two sons in sports—youth soccer, baseball and basketball.

"When I was the assistant principal at what is now Redwood Middle School, I put lights on the basketball courts so people could play there at night. Since then it makes me happy to know that thousands have played on those courts because of those lights," Berger said.

He has worked for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy as well as Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency, a joint powers organization between the CRPD and Thousand Oaks. COSCA had about 3,800 acres of open space when Berger joined the CRPD board and about 15,000 acres when he retired.

"I love youth basketball and open space," Berger said.

He was also involved in the formation in 1985 of the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, comprising CRPD, Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. MRCA oversees about 60,000 acres of open space. Berger was the outgoing chair of the organization last year.

He was first appointed to the CRPD Board in 1984 and served as chair in 1986, 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005. During his tenure, the district added 17 parks, including Conejo Creek Park, and preserved Wildwood Mesa. Under his direction, CRPD also provided thousands of recreation programs and classes.

Berger has been a member of the Newbury Park and Moorpark Rotary clubs.

He now belongs to the Rotary Club in Walden, Texas, a resort community where he owns a house with a boat dock on Lake Conroe near a national forest.

Berger said he was a little surprised when his new Texas Rotarian friends finish the Pledge of Allegiance to Old Glory- - and went right into the pledge to the Texas Lone Star flag.

Berger enjoys fishing and taking his boat to visit other docks on the 15mile-long, 5-mile-wide lake. He also likes paying $1.34 a gallon for gasoline that doesn't have California-required additives in it, so vehicles get 30 percent more miles per gallon, he said.

His favorite thing about Texas is living near his son, Mike Jr., and daughter-in-law, Melissa, and his two grandchildren, Athena, 9, and Tristan, 4.

"I've died and gone to heaven. We love being near our grandchildren," he said.

"Mike is simply a rocksolid peopleserving citizen every community appreciates having," said George Lange, board chair of Conejo Recreation and Park District. "He leads by example and is always sharing, with an open heart and open mind."