Remembering Newark Pioneer—and Audible Landlord—Marc Berson

Don sent the following message to Audible employees in December 2023, honoring the passing of longtime Newark business leader and real estate developer, Marc Berson.

Audible and Newark lost a business leader when our longtime landlord, Marc Berson, died on Saturday, December 2nd. My 17-year personal relationship with Marc led to Audible's tenancy at One Washington Park and our redevelopment of the Innovation Cathedral. Marc was a key collaborator in our vision to grow the tech and innovation ecosystem in our headquarters city, and he supported some of the more inventive (and often-resisted) ideas that enabled a company like Audible to play a catalytic role in making a rising Newark real. Marc was one of the first to step up to be an investor in Newark Venture Partners, and he understood the vision of what a dozen more nascent Audibles could mean for Newark. I remember standing on the 17th floor of One Wash and looking out at Newark as we imagined together the continued comeback of this great city, including a recasting of Newark as a creative economy mecca that creates new jobs at all levels. 

‌Our friendship and relationship helped define the higher-order purposes of Audible’s presence in Newark. He once asked me to speak about him at a dinner a few years ago, when he took a rare bow for his work in Newark, including his focus on better health care for all Newarkers, and I joked that 'our discourse offers a high water mark in the relatively dark history of landlord-tenant relationships.'  

‌Many will miss Marc's focus on the city where he was born, and I will miss him as a friend and ally.