FHP seeks driver in hit-and-run death of former Sentinel reporter
Former Orlando Sentinel reporter and copy editor Mike Berry died after being hit by a vehicle early Saturday in Sumter County near The Villages, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. He was 63.
The fatal hit-and-run occurred overnight Friday into Saturday when a vehicle traveling southbound on U.S. 301, south of County Road 102 near The Villages, struck Berry, who was walking in the roadway, FHP said.
The driver fled the scene and Berry was found dead on the road at 8 a.m. on Saturday, FHP said.
FHP troopers are looking for a 1992 to 1997 Ford Bronco or F-Series Ford pickup truck that is missing its left-front headlight housing.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call *FHP (*347) or Crime Stoppers at **TIPS (**8477).
Berry’s 36-year-old son, Max, is asking for the public’s help to identify the driver who ran over his father.
“He or she has left a trail of horrible devastation,” Max Berry said through tears. “My father would never hurt a fly. He would have done anything to help anyone and he did not deserve this.”
Max said he believes his father, an avid poker player, was leaving the popular card-game venue, Oxford Downs in Sumter County, when he was killed.
Berry was born in 1960 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, into a Baptist missionary family originally from Memphis, Tennessee. He had recently reconnected with his childhood home in the South American country.
“He recently visited Brazil for the first time since he was 9 years old, last March, and was planning on going there frequently,” Max said. “He discovered his roots there and was able to go to his old apartment.”
Berry fell in love with writing in college while working for the student newspaper at the University of Memphis.
After graduating, he pursued journalism and worked for several newspapers. He interviewed Muhammad Ali and former president Bill Clinton when he was the governor of Arkansas.
But Berry’s biggest accomplishment was working at the Orlando Sentinel, where he was hired in 1989, Max said.
“When I was less than 2 years old, they moved down here to take this job at the Sentinel and he worked there for 20 years,” Max said. “That was his biggest accomplishment and getting published in Reader’s Digest.”
Berry was a reporter and columnist at the Sentinel who covered education. He worked as a copy editor his last five years at the paper before leaving in 2009.
“After that, he took up a lot of side projects and was really into art and photography collages,” Max said.
Berry, who lived in Lake Mary, worked at Lake Mary Life magazine since 2014 until his death.
He will be remembered by his only son and grandson as a Bob Dylan-loving beach enthusiast who was a dedicated father and grandfather.
“He was a devoted family man to myself and my 9-year-old son, his grandson,” Max said. “I want whoever did this to know that we will find them and hold them accountable.”
