Marc Berson, who grew up in Newark and became a real estate developer who helped lead a renaissance of the state’s largest city after decades of disinvestment, died Saturday following an undisclosed illness. He was 79.
Berson was also a civic activist and philanthropist who at various times chaired the boards of RWJBarnabas Health system, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and Newark Symphony Hall. He was a founding board member of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, completed in 1997, to which he was also a major contributor and took a hands-on role as a member of its executive committee.
