Valdosta, GA - Mark Gregory Borzi was a truly nice guy. He was funny and smart with a million stories to tell

from his many travels around the world. He was a great husband, father and grandfather. His

family came first in all things. He loved students and teaching. He was an ethical and honest person who was known for treating others fairly.

Mark was a historic baby. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on February 15, 1959. After WWII, several British adoptions had gone wrong and in 1947 it was decreed that only British nationals could adopt British babies. Mark was the first baby adopted after that law was repealed in 1959. Americans Andrew and Alice Borzi were Mark's beloved parents.

He married Catherine Wright in 1985 and they raised two wonderful children, Drew and Anna. Drew gave up a few years of his life after graduating with his masters in Urban Planning to be his father's orderly during this ordeal. It was a night and day job. Anna gave him the gift of two magnificent grandchildren, Jamal and Miracle. He is also survived by his supportive brother

David Borzi. He died of Colon Cancer on August 12, 2025 in Valdosta, GA.

We are unmasking a 1977 mystery from Hudson High School in Ohio. That was the year Mark graduated. Mark was a prankster of the first order, and he was not ready for a test that was first thing in the morning. So, he filled syringes with super glue and filled all of the outside door locks with it in the middle of the night. There was no class the next day and all of the locks had to be replaced! Always a mystery until now. He was a nice Catholic boy with good grades and was never even suspected!

His graduated from Ohio State University in 1981, where he was on the debate team and quartered at nationals. He graduated with his masters and doctorate in Speech Communication from Bowling Green State University in 1985. He taught at Marshall University, University of Connecticut, Eastern Illinois University (where he was made a full professor at age 38), and Valdosta State University. He spent time as chair of the department at EIU and VSU. His area of study was Organizational Communication.

He not only studied Organizational Communication, he was the Manager of Organizational Development at the University of Hartford from 1994 to 1998. He defied any assumption that those who cannot do, teach. He al taught there part time.

Mark had one of the worst cases of Wanderlust ever seen in a professor. He combined his love of students and teaching by organizing study abroad trips. He organized, travelled and

taught his way through 33 countries including Ireland, Greece, Iceland, Australia, Italy, and New Zealand to name a few.

Mark was a former alter boy and Eagle Scout who was generously gave his time to his students and did volunteer work for food banks, CASA, and Rotary, In Charleston, IL, he

was president of the Rotary chapter in 2000.

Anyone who got to know Mark well enjoyed his company, knew they could rely on him, and shared belly laughs due to his outrageous sense of humor and plays on words. He was a good friend, despite his shyness. Mark always appeared confident, but his area of confidence was his knowledge. He wrote his dissertation on shyness and did quantitative

research to prove that interpersonal shyness was its own construct and not to be confused with other forms of shyness. He was exceptionally smart (tested over 130 IQ), but was

reserved around most people. Always polite regardless of what he thought of someone personally. That sometimes required great self discipline.

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Laugh long and hard. Enjoy each moment with people about whom you care.