Michael Charles Bertin

September 25, 1942 - June 3, 2023 Michael requested a seven-word summary of his life: Michael loved Barbara. That says it all.
But we think there is more to his story. Here is our version.
Michael knew from a young age that he wanted to be a physicist. After P.S. 106 for elementary school and Junior High School 127, he attended the Bronx High School of Science. He was a physics major at MIT, and then earned his Ph.D. in physics at Rutgers.
Michael and Barbara, baby Amy, and soon-to-be Laura left New Jersey in 1968 and moved to California for Michael's post-doc position at Stanford. In those years at Stanford, he decided not to pursue an academic career in a university, and he looked for an opportunity in industry.
That opportunity took the form of a lifelong mentor, Jerry Serra. Jerry hired Michael at Nucleonic Data Systems (NDS) in Southern California. Jerry was Michael's wise sage on all matters professional and personal.
In the early 1980s, Michael tinkered in our Irvine home garage with new ideas for a next generation of thickness gauges for rolled metals, the core business of NDS. In 1981, Michael left NDS to work full time on his own company, Gamma Instruments.
Gamma, as it was affectionately known, put Michael's full range of talents on display: he was trained as an experimental scientist, and much of his work was engineering, making machinery come to life to do a job. He did the hardware, the software, the sales, the service, the customer support, and the administration for the business.
In 1986, a competitor made an offer for the business. Michael retired from full-time work in 1988 at the age of 45. Michael and Barbara did an around-the-world trip in the first half of 1989, and that was the start of extensive international travel, including visits to every continent.
Remember Michael's version of this story: Michael loved Barbara. That says it all.
Michael and Barbara met in Mr. Falkenstein's twelfth grade history class at the Bronx High School of Science. Their first date was in the fall of 1959, and they were married in June 1964. Michael died just short of their 59th wedding anniversary. Michael loved his family-his daughters Amy (Larry) Candell of Arlington, MA, and Laura (Jim) Kornish of Boulder, CO, and his four grandchildren, Ted, Allison, Nathan, and Jeffrey, and Ted's fiancée Jenna. But most of all, his beloved Barbara.
Michael had so many interests, and he developed more through the years, so it is impossible to honor his request for brevity.
He was a devoted Yankees fan and knew his way around a baseball scorecard.
He had a lifelong connection to summer camp. He attended Camp Merrimac in New Hampshire as a camper in the 1950s and a counselor in the 1960s. And then, in his 50s, he returned to the camp for three summers as a counselor. He and Barbara sent their daughters and grandchildren to summer camps, too.
In 1998, based on the interests of three-year-old grandson Ted, Michael took up amateur astronomy. Michael had a telescope that he used in Irvine and at "The Ranch" (not really a ranch, but a property in San Diego County that felt like western living to two kids from the Bronx). Around 2010, he began volunteering at the Mount Palomar Observatory as a docent. At Palomar, he gave tours and public lectures on general interest topics. Like his other pursuits, this one drew on a wide range: he loved the science, but also sharing his love of it with others.
Any account of Michael Bertin's life would not be complete without MIT. He interviewed hundreds of prospective students for MIT. He was the class secretary for the Class of 1963 for most of the 60 years since graduation. In that role, he wrote the column in the alumni magazine with the newsy updates from his classmates. He liked to tell people's stories.
He has left a strong legacy with his immediate family and many other extended family members and friends. He didn't wait for next year; he had his ideas about adventures, and he made them happen. And did we mention that he loved Barbara

The family is holding a celebration of his life in July in Irvine. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Friends of Mount Palomar Observatory or the Bronx High School of Science Foundation.