Kent Newmark, a pillar of the Cal Athletics community, passed away last month. He was 85.

Newmark was a two-sport student-athlete at Cal, competing for men's tennis and track & field before graduating with his bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1960. Following a stint in the Army, Newmark returned to Berkeley to complete his master's degree in business administration at Cal in 1964. He worked in bank bond departments in Southern California before moving to San Francisco to join an investment banking company, where he would rise to senior partner and director over his 26-year career.  

Newmark immersed himself in the Cal Athletics community as an alumnus, going on to be one of the most passionate and dedicated supporters of student-athletes and the longstanding success of the athletic department. He was an ever-present figure on campus, cheering on the Golden Bears from the stands of countless competitions and attending various department functions.

"Kent was intelligent; he was smart; he was competitive; he understood sports; he was supportive; he was uplifting, but honest; he was generous to a fault. He could pull things up out of his brain that were always quite impressive with his encyclopedic knowledge," former Cal men's tennis coach and Cal Athletics Hall of Famer Peter Wright said. "But, his greatest enjoyment was having dinner with the team and the interpersonal connections he made with the coaches and with the athletes."

A "walking encyclopedia" of Cal Athletics knowledge, Newmark was always quick to offer up a factoid about the number of Cal alumni with grand slam titles, or stimulate conversation with his unparalleled historical knowledge about the Blue & Gold. He put his expertise to good use as a member of the Cal Athletics Hall of Fame selection committee, a role he cherished dearly. He rarely missed a committee meeting and had an active and enthusiastic voice in the selections of several inductees over the years.

Newmark, along with his wife Pat, were "Builders of Berkeley" who contributed financially to his Alma mater in a myriad of ways. The couple has generously bestowed nearly $5 million upon Cal Athletics in support of a number of different teams and sectors of the department. 

Academic success of student-athletes was of the utmost importance to the Newmarks, and they made a considerable effort to help motivate Cal's athletes to prioritize their studies in addition to their sport. In 2017, they initiated the annual Newmark Awards, which recognize the men's and women's teams with the top grade-point averages each year, and the team with the most improved GPA. The awards come with a stipend that goes to each winning team's operating budget.

"Kent's support was felt by all of the coaches and the student-athletes, and his idea of highlighting the academic performance of the teams was something that we all really embrace as an athletic department," Wright said. "Many different programs came to aspire to win a Newmark Award and, to me, that's one of the most profound gifts that he and Pat made. It just tells you how he felt about Cal Athletics. He and Pat really stepped up to do something for the entire athletic department that is meaningful to all sports. To me, that's a really impressive gift in terms of the broadness of the reach that it has."
 
Newmark was also the lead donor in the facility upgrade project for the Hellman Tennis Complex in 2014. The project completed a series of improvements that benefited both the men's and women's tennis programs, including new locker rooms, upgraded stadium seating for fans and a new team study lounge. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Newmark donned a hard hat and wielded a shovel, joking: "This was initially planned to be a gift in my will. I decided I would get a lot more enjoyment out of this if I were here to see it. I am so pleased to be part of this. It's going to be a great facility."
  Since then, Hellman Tennis Complex has been home to the Cal tennis community, hosting some of the greatest competition moments in recent history and propelling the program to new heights. In addition to support of the tennis programs, the Newmarks also made substantial gifts to the men's and women's golf scholarship funds and, most recently, made a $1 million gift to the Hall of Fame Renovation Project.

"Kent's passion for Cal was wholehearted," women's golf head coach and 2024 Cal Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Nancy McDaniel said. "I refer to him as the 'grandfather of women's golf.' He was a cornerstone of the program, there every step of the way for us. He cared so deeply about the players and their development through their time here, both on the golf course and as people."

Following his passing, the women's golf program named an annual team award in his honor, which recognizes the women's golfer who, like Kent, impacted their team on all levels: academic, campus community life and team leadership, and whose daily effort simply made people around her better. 

"He was that kind of person, one you would want to find something to keep his name alive for, to keep him alive and his spirit around Cal," McDaniel said. 

"It's hard to put into words just what Kent Newmark meant to our Cal Family," athletic director Jim Knowlton said. "From his playing days as a student-athlete on our men's tennis and track & field teams to his immeasurable generosity and extraordinary contributions to our department, Kent's legacy will live on forever. We mourn his loss alongside his wife, Pat, and the rest of their family, as well as all the many others whose lives he touched."