MARK BROCKETT

1963 - 2021

BROCKETT--Mark William, Died at home in Manhattan Friday, March 12, following a decade-long battle with ALS and its complications. He was 57. He was devoted husband to Louise Brewster Brockett and father to William, John, Thomas, and Roger. Mark was born December 1, 1963, to Professor Roger Ware Brockett and Carolann Riske Brockett and grew up in Lexington, MA, with extended stays in Coventry, London, Rome, and the Netherlands when his father taught abroad. These European experiences cultivated his lifelong interest in art, and he received an AB cum laude from Harvard College in 1985 with a major in fine arts. While an undergraduate, he programmed computers for the university's Economics Department, when computers were first introduced into that curriculum, and worked with Fogg Museum conservator Marjorie Cohn to preserve a charcoal study by Rubens for "The Elevation of the Cross." During his college years he met Louise, and they married in 1990. He made his career in finance, serving most recently as partner and managing director of Vermillion Asset Management, where he built a successful energy desk and worked until 2011. He was previously portfolio manager and energy strategist at Moore Capital Management and, before that, creator and senior vice president of a subsidiary of Metallgesellschaft. He began his career as an energy analyst at Goldman Sachs. Generously gifted and wide-ranging in enthusiasms - as comfortable hardwiring appliances as playing Schumann's "Carnaval" or designing a house - Mark was a skilled oil painter, photographer, and woodworker known among friends for his elegant dovetail-joined furniture and handmade architectural features. After becoming completely paralyzed, mute, and confined to life support in 2013, Mark turned to eye- gaze communication technology, using eye blinks to buy and sell art at auction, participate in the financial markets, design supplementary technology, and execute tasks that might seem challenging even to those with all physical abilities intact. When he could no longer use technology, he mastered the art of communicating by eye movements alone. With these methods, he shared his wit and knowledge and joined his wife in raising their sons from childhood into high school, college, and beyond. Mark personified determination and good humor amidst adversity and never allowed the total paralysis of his body to curb the agility of his mind. He is survived by his wife, his parents, his children, his brother Douglas of Menlo Park, CA, Douglas's family, and his brother Erik of New York City. Socially distant visiting at Frank E. Campbell, 1076 Madison Ave., Thursday, March 25, 4:00pm to 8:00pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Mark Brockett to the ALS Association, als.org, 888-949-2577.