Mark Anderson

I wrote a story that ran in Sunday’s New York Times about Mark C. Anderson, 61, who grew up in Berkeley and Orinda and graduated from UC Berkeley. He studied history at the university and then attended San Francisco Law School.

Anderson is scheduled to go on trial Tuesday on charges of setting fire to a wine storage facility in Vallejo. The blaze destroyed $250 million in wine, including some wineries’ entire vintages and historical records.

I am wondering if any Berkeley residents remember Anderson and can share their memories.

Please send me an email if you have any thoughts on Anderson.

Update: Anderson is pleading guilty to these charges.

Frances Dinkelspiel

Frances Dinkelspiel (co-founder) is a journalist and author. Her first book, Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California,...

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4 Comments

  1. Oh, I like that: “Athens by the Bay.”

    Let’s see now, that would suggest a slave owning, sexist, xenophobic and classist culture with some political significance in history and a greatly exaggerated reputation as a hub of intellectualism, over-run by sophists and driving the best and brightest into exile or suicide.

    That’s a great description!

    🙂
    -t

  3. Berkeley’s been home, if not womb, for many criminals. Mark Anderson is not an anomaly. Didn’t the Unabomber teach at Cal? And the guy who owned Pasand restaurant was put into prison for dealing in sex trade with Indian girls ostensibly hired to work at his place. As for scammers and arsonists, I don’t think Anderson’s unique to our Athens by the Bay.