Mark Drake

Mark Drake The intelligence and integrity of our populous world are now diminished, with the passing of Mark Drake. So unusual a mind, supported by such strength of character, comes to the human community only once in most people's experience. And it is an indelible experience, to have known Mark he will remain a distinctive presence in the memories and thoughts of all whose familial or social or professional connections to Mark were long and true. Born in Oakland, California, in 1937, to accomplished and intellectual parents, Mark as a young boy enjoyed the early atmosphere of learning that often characterizes a book-laden home where knowledge and scholarship are highly valued. Affection and encouragement were there, and yet nothing was forced Mark loved books naturally, recognizing their power to transport him imaginatively and to inform him of multifarious facts and figures. Meanwhile, his other great preoccupation found expression: Mark began noticing how, in the physical world, a young person could collect very intriguing material objects, gather them and arrange them, possibly figure out their separate structures, possibly predict their composite structures, and then build things. This inclination to build, and also to repair gave him keen pleasure, and accounts for his youthful interest in automobiles vehicles and engines of all kinds an interest flagging only slightly over the decades. And here was the beginning, too, of what became a career choice: electronics. Mark attended Piedmont High School and the University of California, Berkeley. Not taking a degree from Berkeley, he yet acquired all necessary education and training in his chosen field, training importantly augmented by summer employment at a Redwood City company of some stature: Ampex, then the standard for advanced tape recording equipment. Mark's summers at Ampex were especially valuable as real-world experiences within his academic career. Soon thereafter, on a successful path as a highly skilled young man, Mark's plans were interrupted by a draft call in 1963, obliging him to spend two uneventful years in the United States Army. Once discharged from the Army (his age was 27), Mark returned to the Bay Area and worked as an electronics engineer, staying in touch with family members in Oakland and several cities in Marin County. One prominent member of the family his father was destined to leave the Bay Area within a few years, taking up the post of professor of the history of science in Toronto. Thereafter, Mark enjoyed his father's occasional visits to the West Coast. It is worth noting, for a full understanding of Mark's personality, that while his preference throughout life was apparently to reside in a solitary manner, he nevertheless felt deep affection for family and friends; strong ties that endured were a feature of life's fabric, for Mark as for anyone. During the years of proximity to family, Mark willingly attended gatherings on holidays and for celebrations and other occasions gatherings that included people he cared about. His social gestures were always sincere. A sense of "familiar landscape," and a number of personal commitments, conspired to keep Mark resident in the Bay Area for several decades of his adult life, during which time he had formal affiliations with prominent companies, among them Inovonics, where he worked for several years. Inovonics had particular interest for Mark, because it was a company established by a friend of his, with the purpose of making advanced equipment for sound recording. The informal affiliations, though, were equally important to Mark to his progress along an inner route leading from his accomplishments as a professional in a technical field, to his full arrival as an articulate man in the service of humanistic endeavors. There were overlaps, of course: his skill and inventiveness helped him help others. But the time and energy to work where needed, to correct a situation, to assess and solve a problem, to give freely and leave no trace that was Mark at his center. Eventually, a new landscape beckoned, and Mark relocated to the northern counties of California, first to Mendocino, where he worked as what might be called a Master Caretaker, living on, presiding over, and maintaining the property of a northern California ashram near the town of Leggett. Mark was not untouched by the spiritual aspects of this community, even while the stronger influence on his thinking was the land itself. The natural world its beauty, and real threats to its beauty became important then as never before. The case of environmentalists "on the front line" notably Judi Bari engaged Mark's attention in these years and well beyond; and his broad view of the imperatives of the world came to include environmental justice, about which he researched and wrote as a concerned citizen determined to discover the forces behind the issues. Environmental justice, social justice, the politics of privilege in a democracy, American history and the distortions in its telling all these, and more, converging studies of immediate import, with future effects, filled Mark's thoughts in these years and directed his reading. Another move of residence took Mark from the ashram to a nearby rented property where he lived for several years, becoming strongly involved in local political action. And one further relocation to a purchased home in Fortuna placed Mark comfortably on a beautiful wooded lot, in good health, and with characteristic energy for building, repairing, and generally being a fine "steward of the land." Here he continued his close and critical reading in several fields of discourse, writing commentaries intended to be shared, learning how his community and the larger surrounding area could best be reached. The materials Mark collected and organized in these years, as he wrote and sometimes spoke about the aspects of a beautiful world where nevertheless constant vigilance was needed these materials are the product of a good man who lived his responsibility to the human community. A rich archive, containing written and recorded work across several decades, and accumulated mainly during Mark's years in Mendocino and Humboldt Counties, will eventually become available to the public. These papers and tapes and books together form Mark's substantial legacy, intended for the uses of all curious and conscientious people. Mark is survived by his brother Dan, of Mill Valley; by his brother's family in the East Bay and San Francisco; by three generations of cousins in North Bay cities; and by his cherished friend, Geraldine Teitelbaum, a resident of Palm Springs.