Bill’s Story

Bill was born on May 20, 1926 in San Mateo, California to his parents, Harvey R. Berry and Ruth (Black) Berry. He had one sister, Anne.

Bill was drawing animals almost as soon as he was old enough to hold something to draw them with. By the time he was three years old, he was cutting out animal silhouettes of recognizable creatures, and he completed his first book—on slugs—when he was five. He dictated the introduction to this small book to his grandmother; it seems to be the basis of Bill’s works, something he spent his entire life developing:

“I have tried to put into this book what I thought would interest other people. I have also tried to make the illustrations as true to life as I could.”

William D. Berry, Photographed by Neil Davis

Bill’s passion for the arts continued to grow, and in 1943, Bill attended the Art Center in Los Angeles. However, his studies were interrupted with the start of World War II. Bill enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1944, and spent three years in the military, but he didn’t stop recording his surroundings during this time. In fact, during his last year of service he was a cartoonist for the Pacific edition of the Stars and Stripes military newspaper.

After the war, Bill continued his artistic pursuits and attended the School of Allied Arts in Glendale for three years. Yet, most of his knowledge came from the numerous hours he spent studying and drawing the displays at the Los Angeles County Museum, so much so that the museum eventually asked him to illustrate the book, Birds of Southern California by George Wollett. Bill’s relationship with museums only grew over his lifetime, and he later went on to work as curator of science at the California Junior Museum in Sacramento, and a diorama artist for the Denver Museum of Natural History.

In 1952, Bill married Elizabeth “Liz” M. Berry. Liz was a burgeoning zoologist who later came to be an admired ceramicist. Over the course of their marriage, Liz played a key role in Bill’s career, serving as his most influential collaborator and assistant, and ultimately helping to continue Bill’s legacy long after his death in 1979.

Bill in Denali, Photographed by Neil Davis

Bill’s relationship with Alaska began in April 1954, when him and Liz moved north to help their friends Ginny and Morton Wood and Celia Hunter found Camp Denali, a wilderness lodge in the heart of Denali National Park. Among his other duties, Bill quickly became the resident artist, and could often be found gallivanting around the Denali tundra with pencil and paper in hand. Though they initially only intended to spend that first summer there, Bill and Liz ended up spending the next three years living in Alaska. In spring of 1956, they left the Denali area and bartered some artwork for a ride up to Point Hope, where they experienced a completely new side of the last frontier. His work during the first three years spent in Alaska is best captured in the book, William D. Berry, 1954-1956 Alaskan Field Sketches, available for purchase on our website.

In 1959, Bill and Liz moved back to California, where they had their first son, Mark. There, Bill worked as a technical consultant for Disney Enterprises and as a preparator for the National Park Service. Their love for Alaska brought them back to Deneki Lakes, at the entrance of Denali National Park, in 1961. In 1962, they had a second son, Paul, born in Anchorage. The Berry family moved to nearby Fairbanks, Alaska in 1965, where Liz and Bill became deeply ingrained in the Alaskan arts community.

At the time of his death in 1979, Bill was working on a fanciful mural for the children’s book room of the Noel Wien Library in Fairbanks. The mural was completed with the help of Bill’s friend, and nationally known illustrator, Trina Schart Hyman, with assistance from his protégé and wildlife artist, Todd Sherman, and his son, Mark. The children’s room at the library is named the Berry Room in Bill’s honor.

Bill is survived by his sister Anne Lekvin, his son’s Mark and Paul, his daughter-in-laws Diana Berry and Chris Gabriele, and his granddaughter Hannah Berry.