Mark Birger Benson, Sr.

Mark Birger Benson, Sr., Colchester, VT, died July 13, 2024.

Birger, a longtime business and accounting professor at Saint Michael’s, had a rich life, full of travel and tinkering at home. Family was forever and always at the center of his life.

Born in Hanover, NH, Birger attended Hanover High School and subsequently joined the Class of 1965 at Dartmouth College, where he majored in anthropology and was a member of the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps.

Upon graduating from Dartmouth in June 1965, Birger married Eleanor Loughlin (Ellie), a graduate of Mary Hitchcock School of Nursing. Within days of their honeymoon, he was off to Army training. After a year with his Ranger Battalion at Fort Benning, GA, he led a long-range reconnaissance patrol platoon on a tour in Vietnam as a First Lieutenant from 1966 to 1967. It was one of the most formative experiences of his life, and he frequently recounted stories of his fellow soldiers.

In 1969, Birger began an MBA program at Harvard Business School and became a father to his first son and then to a second, and in 1973, the family settled in Colchester, where Birger and Ellie had lived ever since. Another son in 1978, and a daughter in 1980, completed the family.

In 1979, Birger joined the faculty of Saint Michael’s as a professor of business and accounting. Teaching both undergraduate and graduate students was a passion he enjoyed for 35 years until his retirement in 2014. According to one alum, Birger “created a personal bond with students, which kept classes upbeat and interesting.” He loved his students for the variety, energy, and humor they added to his life.

Birger was founder and CEO of Pen of Steel, a successful management consulting firm with hundreds of clients around the United States. In 1985, he and his close friend and business partner, Joanne LaBrake-Muehlberger, established The Saint Michael’s College Center for Organizational Development, offering management and leadership development programs to local businesses such as IDX, Ben & Jerry’s, Vermont Information Processing, and IBM for 17 years.

In his free time, Birger enjoyed sailing, skiing, motorcycling, reading, telling stories, and spending time with his family. He was a colorful character and a cheerleader to family and friends, offering valuable advice whenever a family member faced an important life decision and even when they didn’t. His guidance was often couched in humor, sometimes laced with an off-color limerick or ditty, and always infused with fierce love and a boost of confidence.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Ellie, two sons, a daughter, a sister and extended family.