MBA founder Robert Berkey passes away at 86

Robert Lon Berkey, founder and pioneer of the Marianas Baptist Church and Academy on island, recently passed away in California. He was 86.

Berkey founded the Marianas Baptist Church on Oct. 7, 1975, and later established the academy in 1984 where he served as its president for 27 years. He named Yang Hoon Lee as his successor.

According to news reports, Berkey died at a California military retirement home near San Francisco in Yountville, California, where he spent his last five years.

MBA principal Ramir Trinidad confirmed yesterday Berkey’s passing and expressed his deep condolences to the family.

Trinidad described the former academy president as a dedicated and committed leader, living his life as a good example and inspiration to his peers.

Berkey retired from service in 2007, the same year when Trinidad last saw him on island.

If there’s one thing Trinidad admired most about the academy president, he said it was Berkey’s “positive attitude.”

According to a website of one of his siblings, Berkey graduated from Bremerton High School just in time for World War II. He was accepted for a V-12 Flight Training Program in Valley City, then went on to the Great Lakes Training Center and afterward into the Submarine Training Service where he remained until the war ended. During this time, he also became a quartermaster, met and married his wife Lisa, and fathered three children: John, Dyanne and Susan.

It was learned that Berkey left the Navy to become a Southern Baptist minister and had a number of congregations in the U.S., then Hawaii for some 10 years, where his children grew up, then 15 or more years on Saipan where he also founded the academy.

MBA, over the years, has graduated many top-ranked and award-winning students.