Mark Allen Kupperman

"My life has been incredible. I don't believe a word of it." - Katherine Anne Porter

Mark Allen Kupperman was born on January 29,1944 and passed away on June 14, 2023 (from complications of leukemia). In his 79 years, he led a kind of "hippie Forrest Gump" life, crossing paths with famous and influential people, having life-changing adventures and living to tell the stories. He enjoyed storytelling so much that he wrote his own obituary (shown below). Other favorite activities included watching Michigan State basketball, hiking and living in the Adirondacks (specifically Essex, NY where he was a judge for several years), and devouring information (via multiple publications, TV news outlets, and books). A beloved father, grandfather, brother, uncle, cousin, and friend, he is loved and missed by many.

MARK KUPPERMAN'S OBITUARY (IN MARK'S OWN WORDS):

Mark Allen Kupperman was born in Newark, NJ on January 29, 1944. He lived in Newark until he was 11 when the family moved to suburban Maplewood, NJ. His parents were both first generation Jewish-Americans.

As a child, singing, he won the summer talent contest at the Hotel LaReine in Bradley Beach, NJ. And he was active in youth programs at Newark's Temple B'nai Abraham.

In the 1950s, his family moved to Maplewood, NJ. In Maplewood, he was active in scouting, serving as a representative of the Orange Mountain Scouting Council to state and national Explorer Scout governing bodies. He also was selected among scouts around the nation for invitation to apply to the United States Military Academy, which he easily declined after being hosted for a week at West Point and being directed (with about five other Jewish cadets) to Sunday Jewish prayer services inside the tomb for Benedict Arnold.

As one of the first Jewish students at Jefferson School, he experienced challenges. While also a stranger to the values of suburbia and Christianity, Mark maintained a close relationship with his cousins who remained in Newark. On weekends, he played sports with Cousin Michael Edelson and attended Weequahic High School football games, where Cousin Irene Tiersten was a cheerleader. Continuing his friendships at Avon Avenue School in Newark, he discovered that his best friend Marty was black. (Maplewood, Mark explained, had "cured" him of his color blindness.)

At Columbia High School, Mark played soccer (goalkeeper) and ran cross-country. He wrote poetry for the school newspaper and was an officer of the Literary Masters Society. Additionally, he had roles in all-school musicals and was a member of the school's chess team.

High school was like being alone on an island where nobody spoke your language, and few wanted to hear yours. His GPA was a D+. He spent days in the principal's office for being a class clown and for refusing to take part in militaristic activities. In particular, Mark refused to march in step, pledge allegiance to the/any flag, and to take his turn in homeroom bible reading.

Mark's great refuge was the Maplewood library, where he worked after school and got to feed his mind's hunger.

His high school guidance counselor refused to recommend Mark for college. Regardless, he applied and was widely accepted, but only because he was a Merit Scholar Finalist. This was much to the embarrassment of Columbia High School.

After two years as a No Preference major, Mark declared Physical Education and Journalism for dual majors at Michigan State University, where he also played varsity soccer and served as President of the Alpha Sigma Phi social fraternity chapter. While still in school, he worked as a stringer for United Press International covering Michigan State sports. Then he took his first full time writing job as a legislative reporter covering the Michigan State House of Representatives, also for UPI and for the Gongwer News Service. Mark helped found the underground newspaper, The Paper, in East Lansing, and was deeply involved in the anti-war movement, serving in 1968 as chairman of the Michigan State chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) when SDS held its national convention on the MSU canvas.

Mark's most enjoyed experience in Michigan, however, was when he worked a summer at a steel yard and became a member of the United Steel Workers union. Earlier summers, he had worked as a camp counselor in Florham Park, NJ and valet parking at a country club in West Orange.

Mark's reporting career continued with The Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger and Battle Creek (MI) Enquirer-News dailies. Then, after being an editor for a network of weekly/community New Jersey newspapers, Mark published his own underground newspaper, The Atlantic Weekly, while living by the Long Branch, NJ, beach in his VW camper. In 1969, Mark worked on the promotion of the three-day concert that became known as Woodstock, where he also was the official photographer (unfortunately, his camera and exposed film were lost in a haze and downpour).

In early 1970, after his camper was repossessed, Mark and his sleeping bag moved to Manhattan, spending nights at first in the Port Authority Bus Terminal, then secretly in the banquet rooms at the Plaza Hotel and more comfortably at the 92nd St YMCA until he joined the public relations staff of Cowles Communications and rented an apartment on the Lower East Side. At the time, Cowles properties included LOOK and Family Circle magazines. After the demise of LOOK, Mark worked as the editor for a number of trade and consumer magazines before being recruited as the first Director of Advertising and Public Relations for the publishing division of the young Warner Communications (now Time-Warner).

Mark felt he had THE BEST jobs at Cowles and Warner. At Cowles, until the last month, he was the reporter/editor of the corporation's house organ, Cowles Ink, which required him to know everyone in the company and to become a friend of many. His Cowles job had been held previously by Gene Shalit and Joseph Heller. Heller said he wrote Catch-22 on the same typewriter Mark later used, and even later gifted to Shalit.

At Warner, Mark got to create the entire advertising / public relations department. And what a great group it was. The Art Director was Harris Lewin, who previously had designed the Harlem On My Mind exhibit at the Metropolitan and whose friendship with the Pushpin principals gave the department easy access to the talents of Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast. Mark personally would lead major publicity tours, getting to share time with Woody Allen, Jean Shepherd, Abbie Hoffman, and Jerry Rubin.

In 1972, as a freelancer, Mark covered the Fischer-Spassky World Chess Championship in Iceland where he produced the commemorative program for the Icelandic Chess Federation. In the years directly following, he worked as a ghost and gag writer for diverse celebrities including Don Imus, Rodney Dangerfield, Jackie Vernon, Mayor John Lindsay, and Vice President Spiro Agnew, as well as for corporate leaders of AT&T and Minolta. In 1974, he and artist/publisher Bert Cohen (Great White Whale Advertising) produced City Games, a monthly magazine designed for New York sports addicts with a "staff" of media industry friends as the contributing writers, including Marv Albert, Woody Allen, Rodney Dangerfield, Jeff Greenfield, Abby Hoffman, Don Imus, and Jean Shepherd. With his close college friend, Tom Chapman, Mark also was a member of the Screen Writers Guild while writing scripts and gags for films of Burt Reynolds and his production company.

Corporate films and multi-media programs written and produced by Mark won numerous industry awards. These included two first prizes from the New York International Film & TV Festival. In 1988, Mark was named marketing writer of the year by the Association of Visual Communicators.

Before becoming the sole legal/custodial parent of his then five year-old daughter, Cara, Mark worked as the Senior Vice President / Creative Director for The Cherenson Group advertising / public relations agency. Afterwards, he worked freelance from home in Long Hill Township, NJ as a writer, creative director, and marketing communications consultant. He also served on the township youth commission and designed its logo. In 1987, he moved to Chatham Borough, NJ where he was active in the Chatham Fish and Game Club, twice winning the club's platform tennis championships and serving on the club's board of trustees.

While his daughter was young, Mark was active in the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship where he taught Sunday School for three years and was a group leader for the New Expectations social program held at the Fellowship.

In 1997, Mark retired to the town of Essex, NY on Lake Champlain in the Adirondack State Park. In 2001, he was elected by the town as its New York State Magistrate/Municipal Judge. He was re-elected twice more to four-year terms, and also served as President of the Essex County Magistrate's Association before resigning in order to move back to New Jersey and be closer to his daughter and her family.

During the 14 years he lived in Essex, Mark served on the boards of the Belden Noble Library, the Essex Trust, and the Boquet River Association riverkeepers. In addition, he was a Fire Policeman and Recording Secretary for the volunteer Essex Fire Department. He proudly helped lead the funding for the platform tennis court now operated by the Elizabethtown (NY) Social Center. Mark also both acted in and directed plays produced by the Essex Community Theater company.

In 2000, Mark was recruited by the Essex County Democratic Committee to work on Hillary Clinton's senate campaign, producing rural voter messages and direct mail copy. As part of this project, Mark conferred with Ms. Clinton's unofficial campaign manager, President Bill Clinton. His time with the President included a round of golf in Lake Placid on Clinton's 54th birthday.

While a resident in Asbury Park, NJ Mark enjoyed several new volunteer activities. He was a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for four children in the state's foster care system. He led a weekly social group for men aged 90-plus at the Francis Asbury Manor in Ocean Grove, and also lead tours as a docent for the Ocean Grove Historical Society. Starting in 1994, he helped promote local cultural programs for both the Algonquin Arts Theatre/Non-Profit in Manasquan and for Father Alphonse Stephenson's charitable group, The Cecilia Foundation. He was also involved with the Actors Studio productions in New York City lead by actor Estelle Parsons.

Mark Allen Kupperman is survived by his daughter, Dr. Cara Kupperman Hillwig, his son-in-law, Craig Hillwig, Esq., and his two grandsons, Zac and Alistair, all of Wynnewood, PA, as well as his three younger siblings, Philip Kupperman of Boca Raton, FL, Kenneth Kupperman of Bluffton, SC, and Michelle Kupperman Ott of Gainesville, FL, along with many adored sibling-in-laws, cousins, nephews, and nieces. In addition, he is survived by an adopted son, Matthew Allen Kupperman of Idaho and his progeny.