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SANDO BERGER
1925—1992
The Universal House of Justice of the passing of pioneer to Mexico, Mr.
Sando Berger of Puebla. The House of Justice asks that you extend its
was saddened to learn . . .
warm sympathy to the dear family of this devoted longtime servant of the Faith and assure them that it is offering prayers in the Holy Shrines For the progress ofhis radiant soul.
Department of the Secretariat December 1, 1992
A new dialog on painting must reflect a simplicity and innocence that can only be produced through a detachment from this earthly plane that opens the way of the soul, thereby enabling a consideration, uninhibited and with absolute certitude, of the incorruptible great beyond where the light of the
dawn of understanding dazzles us.
Sando Berger, “Reflexiones en torno a la pintura”
“ hile he was working in Laguna
Beach, California, Sando Berger heard of the Faith through 0. Z. Whitehead. I think this was in the early 505. He
immediately responded and accepted the Faith. He then heard that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had said that ifa true believer would walk across the country reciting the Greatest Name, the entire country would respond. He took that literally and actually walked through several western states reciting the Greatest Name.” 50 writes Shirley Macias, a close friend of Sando. She continues:
I met him around 1953 (before I was a Bahá’í). He was then living in Laurel Canyon with Mickey. During that same period, my dear friends Seymour Malkin16 and Hooper Dunbar were also attending firesides, and apparently Sando was the individual who introduced them to the Faith. All three of us declared almost the same day. The day I met with the Los Angeles Assembly, February 26, 1956, Hooper went with me to “hold my hand” (he enrolled through the West Hollywood community about a week later), and Mickey (Sando’s girlfriend with whom [he] had a child named Shawn) was sitting there with Seymour Malkin, who was also meeting with the Assembly . . . Afterward, I saw him, and he told me that he had decided to do the right thing and marry Mickey.
Mr. Dunbar remembers how, as a Bahá’í youth, Sando “arose like a flame to walk on foot across the States to proclaim the message” and explains that Sando “had to abandon his plans after falling ill in New Mexico on the way.” Mr. Dunbar adds:
Indeed, Sando introduced me to the Faith in a very wise and spirited manner and remained a great encouragement to me in the first months of my Bahá’í
‘6 See “In Memoriam,” 777E Balui’z’ IVorld, vol. XVI, PP- 542—43.
THE BAHA’I’ WORLD
life. He was a very talented sculptor and painter. We met through mutual friends and then became friends through art. He and his wife were very kind to me at a period of much spiritual turbulence. It was only after knowing me some weeks that he left a Babe“ prayer book on a car seat where I would see it. And then the great adventure began.
Sando and Mickey’s marriage did
not last, and Sando went to Chicago.
Mr. Dunbar pioneered t0 Honduras,
and Seymour and Shirley also went to
Honduras. Shirley continues, “I didn’t hear
much about him until I heard he had gone
to Mexico and married this lovely woman in Puebla and had a beautiful daughter [Shomais] .”
That lovely woman in Puebla was
Margarita. She writes:
I7
I met Sando in the summer of1973 about the time I learned about the Faith. We became friends through Dr. Edris Rice—Wray,I7 also a pioneer in Mexico, recently established in the State of Puebla. Sandro and I attended the summer school, and my first impression of Sando was that he was shy because of his lack ofSpanish. The next month he settled here; and later he was appointed caretaker of the Amelia Collins Institute.
Later I discovered that Sando was a dynamic person, firm and decided, creative, with new ideas. We got married at the beginning of the summer of 1974 at the Institute. We lived there for about a month; then we moved to a house behind the Institute, which
See “In Memoriam,” 77]: 34/1117 W/ar/d, vol. XX, pp. 958—60.
belonged to some Bahá’í friends. We have lived there until now.
During our nineteen years together I have learned many things about his life. Sando left Prague in 1939 when he was fourteen years old. \X/hen I met him he was forty-eight years old.
Sando would remember the severe discipline of his father and the warmth of his mother. He had a brother five years younger whom he loved very much, and he loved his grandmothers, specially his mother’s mother with whom he spent much time as a child and a youth. He never knew what happened to her. It seems that she went to France hoping to be joined by her family after the Second World War. Her husband (Sando’s mother’s father) did not want to leave the country and died in a concentration camp.
Later Sando and his parents went to France and Portugal and from there to New York. His father and mother eventually returned to Czechoslovakia, but Sando spent many years [in Greenwich Village] in New York City, dedicating himself to a vocation of painting. Without the support of his family, Sando worked as a waiter in restaurants to earn money with which to buy painting materials. He used to tell me that when he was young he preferred to spend his money on books rather than on a good meal. His dinner usually consisted ofa Chocolate bar and a baguette. This was when he was in his twenties. He made contacts with leading musicians, poets, writers and actors. Later . . . he moved to California.
Sando knew classical literature. He liked to question and investigate; perhaps that was the reason he later became a Bahá’í. A short time after he declared,
[Page 25]
IN MEMORIAM 1992—1997 25
he pioneered. He told me he attended a talk that called for pioneers, and he felt it was a personal message, and so he decided to fulfill this goal. He crossed the desert of New Mexico with a deep love for Baha’u’llah and His Cause. He visited the Navajo Nation. He admired the Navajo culture and shared with them the teachings of the Faith. Then he felt he had to go to Mexico. He felt a great attraction for the country, and the door was opened for him through an art exhibition in the city of Juarez, Chihuahua, at the end of the
sixties.
Lisa Janti was the one who opened the door for him, putting together exhibitions of his work in Mexico and California. His work shows a strong influence of the Faith with titles such as “Gate to the Immortal Realm,” “The Seven Valleys,” and “The Hidden Words." His works were also influenced by the well—known Bahá’í artist Mark Tobey. Lisa met Sando early in his Bahá’í life and again in the I96os when he was having a difficult time. Lisa noted:
Most of the paintings from this time were very small because Sando didn’t have much money for paint and eanvasses. I cherish these miniatures. I think I have some of the most exquisite from this period. Later, as he got healthier and had some income, he painted very large pieces. I have two that he gave me that are real treasures; one is of Mullá Ḥusayn on a splendid horse. Sando loved horses.
His wife, Margarita, continues:
We were already married when we moved here [Puebla], and Sando became interested in the community
and the possibility of excavating a well in order to provide water to the region so as to cultivate year round. Unfortunately the neighbors were not yet prepared for Sando to start this new idea. Nevertheless Sando started. He cultivated alfalfa and raised rabbits. He also raised goats for milk and operated a small cheese industry for nearly seven years. It has continued to be a success for the friends who help us.
In addition to teaching at the language school, he was invited to teach visual and plastic arts at the Federal University of Puebla. Because of this, in 1987 Sando decided to dedicate [himself] full time to painting and to studying deeply the different schools of painting.
One of his qualities, which I admire, was his dedication and interest for anything that he did and his concern to live according to his beliefs.
His contribution to the university [Universidacl Auténoma de Pueblalg] was also significant. He wrote for a magazine, and later was appointed as international representative [for] culture of this university until he passed away on November 11, 1992.
Hum 1m article written in Spanish by Margarita Berger and mntrz'éutz'om by Shirley Maria: and Lisa find
The University has had its name changed throughout its long history. During the life of Sando Berger it was known as the Universidad de Puebla (1937—1956), Universidad Auténoma de Puebla (1956—1987), and Beneme’rita Universidad Auténoma de Puebla (1987 to the present).
