He never wanted the stiff, black-bordered kind of goodbye. So this isn’t that.
He was a disabled veteran who answered when his country called — Desert Storm and the wars that came after it. He carried those years in his body and in the quiet, fierce loyalty he kept for his military brothers. That part of him never left the field.
He was also a radiating ball of light who happened to be stubborn as hell. Funny on purpose and by accident. The kind of man who could fill a room without trying and then refuse to wear socks in it on principle.
He loved his Cougar the way some people love heirlooms. He loved the New York Giants the way some people love religion. He loved Miller Lite the way a man loves the thing that tastes like the end of a long day. He hated the Dallas Cowboys with the same commitment.
He was Dad. He was Poppop. He made an outsized dent in the lives of the little ones who will carry him forward: Khloe, Jason, Harlow, Penelope, Izzabella, and Ellie. That is the part that lasts.
He is survived by his wife, Heather; by his children, Kayla and Mark, and their spouses, Brennan and Jaime; by his stepchildren, Allie and Daniel; by the mother of his children, Carly Edgell; by his mother, Nina; by his brothers, Tommy and John; and by his bruncles, Ray, Les, and John. And by every person who ever sat in the passenger seat of that Cougar, argued football, or watched him light up a grandchild’s face.
Born September 15, 1968. He didn’t make it look easy. He made it look like him. His light doesn’t go out. It just changes hands.
A visitation will be held on Sunday, September 20, 2026, from 1–4 p.m. at O’Brien Funeral Home in Brick, NJ.
A chapel service will be held at Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown, NJ, on Monday, September 21, 2026, at 1 p.m. We ask that anyone joining at the cemetery please arrive 15 minutes early.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to a local hospital to support children with cancer or our veterans in Mark’s honor.
