Mary Berko, math teacher and lifelong champion of learning, has died at 92

Mary Berko, 92, of Collingswood, math teacher, champion of Mount St. Joseph Academy, and maternal figure to many, died Sunday, April 9, of pulmonary edema at Virtua-Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.

Daughter of Charles and Cecelia Merz, an insurance agent and stay-at-home mom, Mrs. Berko was born and raised in Philadelphia’s Tacony neighborhood. A devout Catholic, she graduated from Mount St. Joseph Academy in 1948 and Chestnut Hill College in 1952, places where she would develop and foster a deep passion for mathematics.

“If I can’t do the quadratic equation, just put me in a box,” Mrs. Berko would often joke with relatives as she got older.

She married Tom Berko the same year she graduated college and focused on raising their family. The couple would have four children who grew up accustomed to family dinners and calling neighbors aunts and uncles because of their mother’s friendly nature. They would spend summers sailing outside Sea Isle City.

Liz Anne Gutwein-Guenther, Mrs. Berko’s daughter, said the family was used to seeing their mother run various school events, such as the St. Patrick’s Day party when they were in grade school.

“She could cook anybody under the table,” said Gutwein-Guenther, though her mother was best known for her meatballs — and she was not Italian.

What’s more, Mrs. Berko practiced what she preached. Emphasizing the importance of an education and how learning is a lifelong endeavor, Mrs. Berko would return to school in her 50s and earn her master’s degree in education at the former Beaver College, now Arcadia University.

“In those days, you were raising your children and nothing came between that,” said Gutwein-Guenther, but her mother wanted to do it all, and by then, her children were already teens.

The family moved to Haddon Township, and Mrs. Berko taught math at Haddonfield Memorial High School for a few years, later spending close to 15 years teaching at Sterling High School, and five more at Camden County College before retiring at 76.

When Mrs. Berko wasn’t teaching or tutoring for SAT prep, she volunteered as a lector at Saint Vincent Pallotti Church. She spent years with the housing authority of Haddon Township, making use of her math skills.

Gutwein-Guenther said her mother’s signature refrain was, “People are the most important thing. Get involved.”

Through it all, Mrs. Berko made sure to stay involved with her former high school, “the Mount,” decades after graduation. The school said she served as a member and chair of its board of directors, as well as the “creative talent behind the Golden Girls,” a gathering of alumni who’d graduated 50 years ago or more.

She received the Founders Award in 2015, the highest honor given at Mount St. Joseph Academy, for her involvement.

“She has left an indelible mark here at the Mount, and her legacy will continue to live on through the talented and caring young women we educate,” the school said in a statement.

When Mrs. Berko wasn’t volunteering or reading, post-retirement, she spent her time solving puzzles and math problems with her great-grandchildren, who enjoy a challenging quiz. She never declined a dinner invitation with Gutwein-Guenther and her friends, who saw her as a maternal figure.

Time would not slow down Mrs. Berko in assisted living. She would continue being a social butterfly, encouraging fellow residents to go to exercise classes, despite not being athletic in her younger years.

In addition to her daughter, she is survived by two other children, six grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and her brother. A daughter, great-grandchild, and husband died earlier.

Services were held Monday, April 24.

Donations in her name can be made to Mount St. Joseph Academy, 120 W Wissahickon Ave, Flourtown, Pa. 19031