Bruce Lawrence Berg, a Cal State Long Beach criminal justice graduate adviser and professor, died of a heart attack on Friday in Santa Ana. He was 54.
Berg was born on Oct. 7, 1954, in Brooklyn, N.Y. He studied sociology, earning his bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College in 1975 and, from Syracuse University, his master’s degree in 1982 and his doctorate in 1983.
Berg began his teaching career as a criminal justice professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1988. Eleven years later, he became a professor at CSULB. From 2001 to 2003, he served as the chair of the criminal justice department. He left Indiana University and moved to the West coast, leaving the small-town atmosphere to experience a more diverse area.
However, the reason for his passion for sociology and criminal justice never came up, said Kate Dwyer, his daughter. His son, Alex, a CSULB accounting and business alumnus, said Berg had a mentor in school “who taught him the ropes.”
“I know he loved it, was fascinated by it,” Dwyer said, “and he loved teaching more than anything else.”
In addition to mentoring graduate students at CSULB, Berg taught a total of 10 different courses about subjects such as criminological theory, thesis project writing, research methods, and causation and criminal investigation. He also worked with students through CSULB’s Partners for Success program.
“Students loved him, he was an active scholar and he sat on countless department, college and university committees,” said Brenda Vogel, an associate criminal justice professor, in an e-mail. “What really made Bruce special, however, were the ‘intagables’ he brought to the department. He could always be counted on to step up when something needed to get one, he would take on additional students, step in and teach a class for a sick colleague, help out students in a bind, and on and on.”
Connie Ireland, graduate program coordinator, said in an e-mail that Berg would “pop into an office, plant himself in a chair” to chat about various subjects “without fail every week, with every single faculty member in the department.”
He taught on campus, as well as for the off-campus accelerated master’s program in criminal justice. Berg was also involved with an exchange program that sent criminal justice students to universities in China.
Berg has published about six books in qualitative research methods, policing and other areas of criminal justice. He also published about 40 articles in different academic journals.
He worked on research projects with various groups, including the Massachusetts State Police Academy. He especially took an interest in studying policing, police training, juvenile justice and substance abuse.
Sam Torres, criminal justice undergraduate adviser and friend of Berg, describes Berg as “kind of a jokester” who was “always in a good mood.”
“He was somebody who found the joy and wonder in all the things in his life,” Dwyer said.
He enjoyed traveling and loved visiting Hawaii — so much so that he was well known on campus for wearing Hawaiian shirts. He has also traveled to China, London and Scotland.
“He always wore Hawaiian shirts with matching socks and/or shoes,” Vogel said. “If he had on a chartreuse shirt, then his socks would be chartreuse and green argyle.”
Torres said he learned from Berg “to live life for today, don’t put off things too long.”
“The man knew anything and everything about everything,” said his son, Alex, who noted that Berg was able to build despite a lack of experience in carpentry and could answer “Jeopardy” questions like a contestant. “He’s the smartest man I’ve ever met, and a loving father and husband.”
On a typical day, Berg would wake up at 4:30 a.m. and go to the gym with his wife before going to work. At the end of the day, he would go to his home in Irvine and cook dinner for his wife and himself.
“I guess his No. 1 hobby was spending time with my mom,” Dwyer said. “They were hardly ever apart.”
Berg met his wife, Jill, whom he married in 1975, when they worked at a two-story mall in New York. Berg, a shoe-store employee in his 20s, flirted with the woman from the cheese store for a while before asking her out on a date.
Dwyer said believed he would say his greatest accomplishment was being a father and a husband.
In his spare time, Berg enjoyed watching television and taking care of and walking his dog, Bebe, an American bulldog mix. Some of his favorite shows included “CSI,” “Medium,” “Law and Order” and “Monk.”
He also liked collecting stamps and coins, and reading mysteries and detective novels. According to Dwyer, he also had a black belt in karate and lost more than 100 pounds last year.
Berg is survived by his wife, Jill; his daughter, Kate, 27, of San Diego; and his son, Alex, 25, of Irvine.
A memorial service will be held tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the Shir Ha-Ma’alot synagogue in Irvine, proceeded by the burial at the Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona Del Mar.
I am deeply saddened to hear that Dr. Berg passed away. I, too, have fond memories of working with him. I was a graduate student at Long Beach several years back, and he served as an inspiration for me to pursue and accomplish my academic aspirations. I will always remember Dr. Berg for his upbeat attitude and of course, his hawaiian shirts, and not to mention his trademark sign-off “see you in cyberspace.” God bless his soul. And for those of us who had the distinct pleasure to have known him, we were lucky have been brushed with such greatness.
I am very sad to hear of Dr. Berg’s passing. I had many classes with him and he was currently helping me with my thesis project. He was always extremely funny and made me feel like I was capable of acomplishing anything. He was very inspiring and I loved all his classes. Till this they I wonder why he always finished his emails with “see you in cyberspace”
Dear Jill, Kate and Alex
I am so sorry to hear about Bruce. I have some idea of what you are all going through and thankfully I know you will all be there for each other. I have wonderful memories of all of you here in Indiana and I know many people here still think of you. Bruce was a larger than life person and his academic accomplishments are many. I remember, above all, that Bruce was a very dedicated family many and will be missed by many. My thoughts are with you.
Bruce was a family friend that my father had known since childhood and my mother had known for 30+ years. Although I have only met him a handful of times, he was a very happy person. I send my condolences to his loved ones, colleagues, and students who will miss him dearly.
I too have nothing but fond memories of Dr. Berg. He had a great way of reaching his students. He was truly an inspiration to have around and I’m deeply saddened by the loss of one of the greatest instructors at Long Beach State. I am so grateful for the time I was able to spend in his class, the time he took for me as a student and the great and fun lessons he provided. My deepest condolences go to his family and friends.
One of the things that I always loved about Bruce was that every time you ever called him he would always start off with “Well, hiya (insert name)!” It was intimidating to be a graduate student until you met Dr. Berg. He always relaxed you and made you feel comfortable to talk about some wild crazy theory you thought you’d research for a thesis. He was the chair of my thesis committee and was a great mentor.
I’m sad that I won’t be able to get relationship advice from him as I really looked forward to that since he and Jill were so great together. It’s rare these days to find couples together so long and to be so in love. I remember him especially upbeat when he talked about him and Jill renewing their vowels. I’ll miss Bruce but thank God for the many many opportunities I had to interact with him and to learn so much from him on so many different levels. I am a better man because of it.