Mark Foss

Mark B. Foss, 80, of Fargo, ND, died Friday, January 25, 2008, at MeritCare Palliative Care Unit, Fargo, North Dakota. A retired civil and structural engineer, Mark was born on November 18, 1927, at the Swedish American Hospital in Minneapolis, MN, to Magnus Oliver Foss, Sr. and Ethel Leona Bergmann Foss. He grew up in Fergus Falls, MN, where he had a paper route and attended elementary school. During high school, Mark was an Eagle Scout, elected senior class president, ran track, and played basketball and football for the Fergus Falls Otters. Mark received an honorable mention on the 1944 All-State Football Team. After high school, he joined the Army in 1945, and continued to play basketball and football while stationed at Ft. Benning, GA. He enrolled at the University of North Dakota in 1947, and pledged Phi Delta Theta. A dedicated athlete, he continued to play basketball, ran track and lettered three years in football. Mark was named to the North Central Conference Football First Team in 1948 and 1950. The Fighting Sioux football team was ranked North Dakota's top sports story in 1950, by the Associated Press. Mark graduated with a degree in civil engineering and made many lifelong friends. In June 1951, Mark married Peggy Dougherty in Mohall ND. Together they moved to Washington, D.C., where he attended Army Officer Training School. With the rank of 1st Lieutenant, Mark served in Japan and Korea, building facilities to support the U. S. Army and supervised the construction of the first Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH). In 1953, Mark and Peggy moved back to Grand Forks, where he worked for DeRemer Architects while attending the UND School of Engineering and Mines. He received a Masters in Civil Engineering in 1955, and after graduation, joined Foss & Company (now Foss Associates) in Fargo-Moorhead, the architectural and engineering firm established, by his grandfather, in 1898. Encouraged by his architect-father, Mark refined his Masters thesis on lift-slab construction into one of the firm's design strengths. The innovative lift-slab technique was used in numerous high-rise dormitories and housing structures in the Fargo-Moorhead area. He served the firm as a civil and structural engineer, Business Development Director and President, retiring in 2000. During his tenure, the firm’s expertise broadened to include medical, civic and educational buildings, including West Acres Shopping Center, the modern Westside Terminal at Hector Airport, Judicial Wing of the North Dakota State Capitol Building, St. Luke's and MeritCare Medical Center buidings, John D. Odegard Center for Aerospace Sciences at UND, and many city, county and state landmarks. During the 1970's, the firm had a staff of more than 70 architects, engineers and support staff with six offices in three states. As a civic and community leader he was active in the Fargo and Moorhead Chamber of Commerce, Fargo-Moorhead YMCA (board member, fund raiser), West Acres Development, Sertoma Club, Church of the Nativity (lay director, fund raiser), Union State Bank (board member), MeritCare Foundation (board member), American Legion, and the Red River Human Services Foundation. He was also a member of the Reserve Officers Association of the United States. A distinguished UND Alumni, Foss received the UND Sioux Award in 1972, the Spirit of Sioux Award in 2002, and was active on the Alumni Board of Directors, Alumni Foundation, School of Engineering and Mines Advisory Committee, and a member of Athletic Board of Control. He designed the Fox Memorial Bridge on the UND campus in 1965. His first wife, Peggy Dougherty Foss, mother of their seven children, passed away on June 21, 1987. He married Grace Lawrence Foss on August 26, 1989, and she passed away on May 4, 1995. He married Lillian Osterhus Cole on July 12, 2000. He was preceded in death by wives: Peggy and Grace; parents, Ethel