Mark G. Nelson

Survivors include his three children: Matthew, Thomas and Christy; two sisters; Barbara Olson and Joan Nelson; and a brother, Rick.

Mark was born and raised in Warren, and moved to Florida in his teens. He studied marketing and advertising at Palm Beach Community College. He managed a small publishing company with a partner for seven years. Among a variety of tourist-oriented material, the firm produced a successful golf publication – Palm Beach Golf.

Mark had a genuine love of the outdoors, which motivated him to take a position with a large Florida-based landscaping firm, where he worked for more than five years. During this period, he received a degree in wetlands and aquatic plant culture at the University of Florida and became a certified arborist. The company assigned him to lead a series of cleanup projects in Raleigh following a major hurricane. After several months, he decided to move his family to the Raleigh area, hire a small crew and start his own tree service business, specializing in work for North Carolina State University and the town of Cary, N.C.

After six years, a serious heart condition and the lasting effects of cancer treatment prevented Mark from continuing to meet the physical demands of the tree service business. In 2009, he joined Dillard’s, an upscale department store chain, in a sales and marketing capacity. He worked at Dillard’s for more than 10 years, until his retirement in 2019. Mark was devoted to his family and his late wife, Suzanne and found solace in his sense of deep faith in the Christian Doctrine. He is missed by family and friends.

His family will gather for a private memorial service in Warren in July