Richard “Rick” Lee Berg, a Madison native and Isthmus columnist, died on Saturday, Nov. 11, at UW Hospital in Madison. He was 73.
Berg was born on Aug. 17, 1950, in Madison, the son of Robert and Phyllis Berg. Early in life, he lived in San Diego, Lake Mills and Fort Atkinson. A 1968 graduate of Fort Atkinson High School, he earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UW-Madison in 1974.
- RELATED: On the life of Rick Berg
He worked in local and state government in Wisconsin for more than 30 years. Berg was a former Madison school board member and former Dane County Republican Party chairman. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor, and also worked as a speechwriter for Gov. Tommy Thompson. Throughout his career in government, he maintained his roots in journalism, writing dozens of pieces for Isthmus, from his conservative perspective.
His obituary conclude with the following line: “In lieu of donations, Rick would like you to buy a newspaper, as he was an old school newspaper man at heart.”
