Renee Diana Bergman

Renee Diana (Berg) Bergman, 86, of Portland died Nov. 21, 2011 at Holladay Park Plaza. She was born Oct. 21, 1925 in the Middle Village neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City to Sam and Jennie Berg, the younger of their two children. Her beloved brother, Irving, was seven years older. At age 19, she graduated from New York University with a double major in literature and pre-med. Renee spoke often and lovingly of her childhood and education. On July 10, 1945 she married Arthur Bergman, her brother’s best friend. They settled in Oregon after World War II and raised their family in West Linn. In 1966 Renee earned her Master of Arts in teaching from Reed College in Portland and taught chemistry and physics at Roosevelt, Adams and Lincoln High Schools in Portland until her retirement in 1988. From the late 1980s until 2009, Renee enjoyed living in a floating home on the Columbia River. Her volunteer activities included B’nai B’rith and the Multnomah County Library in North Portland. She participated in, enjoyed and actively supported the arts. She was a cellist and ballroom dancer and a fan of the Oregon Symphony, Chamber Music Northwest, opera and theater. She was also involved in a number of political and social causes and was a champion of the underdog. She worked to get Clackamas Community College started; she was ecology-conscious and cared about recycling and nutrition; and she was interested in innovations such as induction burners and geodesic domes and how they could mean better ways of living. Renee enjoyed unusual automobiles and owned a Fiat in the 1960s; a 1966 Barracuda that she drove until 2009; an Amphicar; and a 1985 Mazda RX7 that she had converted to an electric car in the early 1990s. Her family describes her as smart, funny, generous, loving, supportive and independent, a real “do-it-yourselfer.” She will be greatly missed. Private inurnment was Nov. 27 at Beth Israel Cemetery in Portland. A celebration of life will be held Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011 at noon at Holladay Park Plaza, 1300 N.E. 16th Ave., Portland. Memorial contributions may be made to Oregon Food Bank or Oregon Humane Society. Arrangements by Autumn Funerals, Cremation & Burial, Tigard, Oregon.