James D Berry

James D. Berry, 80, passed away on November 12, 2015 at the Agape Senior Assisted Living facility in Rock Hill, SC after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. He was born, the son of Ethel Stackhouse Berry and Ray Berry in Minneapolis, MN on Dec 17, 1934. He attended and graduated from Washburn High School in 1952 where to the astonishment of his family and friends it was discovered that he was a cheerleader. His older brother Bill of Chicago and sister Joan Andreen of Minneapolis predeceased Jim. At the age of 18 he joined the Air Force as a motion picture cameraman and was assigned to Orlando AFB, FL and later to Japan and Hawaii. He left the Air Force in 1961 and went to work as a civilian cameraman at Lookout Mountain Air Force Station in Los Angeles where he filmed motion picture productions around the world including in 1962 the last U.S. atmospheric atomic tests in the South Pacific. In 1968 he began free-lancing in Los Angeles as a cameraman/director shooting television commercials. From 1981 to 1988 he and partner Emie Amemiya, operated Ember Productions, filming commercials for food clients such as Red Lobster, McDonalds, Budweiser and automobile companies. He moved from Los Angeles to the Charlotte area in 2003 and has resided there until his death. He was married to his late wife Marlene and had four sons, Kevin-deceased, Keith of Chicago, IL, Kent of Fort Mill SC and Kelly of Columbus, OH. He has seven Grandchildren; Kevin Jr, James, Meagen, Emma, Brooks, Christopher & Matthew. A Memorial Service will be held at 1173 Shelly Woods Drive, Indian Land SC 29707 on Saturday November 28 at 2 PM. The family, requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the National Parkinson Foundation at www.parkinson.org. Online condolences may be registered at www.basscares.com.