This memorial website was created in memory Berm. He was loved by many.
Tributes
Leave a tributeAbout a year before my brother Andrew passed, I had a conversation with him about business advertising, as he was quite the entrepreneur, and always creating something new to make the world a better place. I told him that I liked his promo photo on his website, but wasn’t sure if being barefoot was appropriate. Little did I know the message until recently when I was standing barefoot in the sand recently thinking about Andrew. I was saying quietly to him, “ Well, Andrew, maybe barefoot isn’t so bad after all! “… and at that exact moment, a white feather came down from the sky. “
Thank you Andrew for the message to enjoy life and not work so hard all the time. I will miss your ability to springboard the family into lively laughter and electric conversations at the dinner table.
Thank you for showing me how to live life to the fullest! We all will miss our little brother who always surprised us with fun jokes and comedy. You will remain in our hearts as the energetic, talented artist and the life of the party who always knows how to get everyone laughing and having a good time!
You nurtured our 30-year old friendship by the intensity and quality of our time together, by the regularity of your calls, by your thoughtfulness. You leave us with such fond memories and with the tremendous regret that we can no longer benefit from your kindness, eloquence, your talent, your elegance and enthusiasm. You have a very special place in our hearts and we are so terribly saddened by this departure. We hope you are at peace up there, looking over us with that mischievious grin and at the same time, we know you are distilling your love from afar to your family that meant everything to you, your utmost pride. We love and miss you so much.
Nina, Alexine, Xandra, Nicoline and Erik
We miss you Andrew.
Vivi
A Quick Little Ride With Andrew Bermingham
When Fred Taylor’s son Moses got married in Steamboat in 2015, the Berms and the MoBarrs stayed together in a slope-side condo located near the gondola for easy access to the festivities. Andrew and I brought our road bikes and our Lycra (imagine me in Lycra—well, maybe don’t) and ventured out Saturday morning for a pre-wedding pedal. I requested a reasonable ride—nothing too short as I had something to prove, nothing too long because whatever I had to prove would be tempered by the spare tire around my middle.
The Tour de Colorado was in town and as we headed through Steamboat and out into Routt County, a peleton of pros surrounded and then quickly passed us. Naturally, Andrew chased them down and I tagged along and soon we were in their midst. He somehow snapped a photo of me side-by-side with the 2% body fat crowd--the first and last time that'll ever happen. They eventually dusted us and then Berm led me on what he promised would be a quick ride with a few climbs but “nothing that I couldn’t handle.”
I enthusiastically acquiesced and followed him up through farm country and narrow valleys. After the first serious uphill, Andrew waited for me to get within shouting distance, barked a few words of encouragement and took off. After the second, third and fourth mountain passes, his enthusiasm only seem to build.
“Just one more little hill, Momo! C’mon!”
He’d chuckle and then sprint up the blacktop. I, on the other hand, looked up at yet another 7% grade and returned Berm’s goading with a hoarse string of profanity and the occasional middle finger.
As we arrived in Oak Creek—many miles deep into the ride and a few miles outside of Steamboat—Berm led me up to a small café and bought a couple of homemade baked goods and Gatorades. I was completely wiped out but thoroughly invigorated. We toasted, high-fived and ate and he explained that his ‘quick ride’ was actually The 3 Witches Ride (AKA, 3 Bitches), a 50-mile slog with a 3,500-foot elevation gain.
Berm flashed that big toothy grin of his—he was proud of me for sticking with him and genuinely pleased with himself for pulling one over on me and dragging my fat ass up, over, around and through some beautiful Colorado country.
That was Berm. When all cylinders were firing and scheming in unison, his eyes absolutely exploded with this mischievous twinkle. When I saw those eyes light up—skiing, over dinner or on the 3 Witches ride—I had the good sense to buckle up and hold on, because with Andrew Bermingham you didn’t know exactly where you were headed, but man, you knew the ride was going to be a good one.
Love you Brother
From grade school to high school and through his adulthood, Andrew was that rare person, that wonderful and unique person who made all those around him feel renewed enthusiasm and happiness. He was all about possibilities. He was so so wonderfully proud of his wife and his boys.
Miss you Berm.
You will always be an American Legend and the essence of the true multifarious "Renaissance Man": entrepreneur, stand-up comic, hydrogen expert, social and media coordinator, sculptor and painter, inventor, photographer and filmmaker extraordinaire, civic leader, devoted husband and father, scene-stealing techie character in the goofy "The Devil's Brigade", and driven athlete--cyclist, skier, and tennis player. Oh, and did I forget outrageously gifted raconteur, unparalleled rapscallion-in-naughtiness-and-fun-loving-debauchery, and close friend who always lit up a room with that devilish gleam in your eyes and Dennis-the-Menace smile?
Rest in Peace and We love You. There will always be one and only one Berm, Bermolito, and Andy B on earth and in the heavens.
You are making us cry now but you always made us laugh so hard it split our sides, just like your predecessors Peter Sellers, Austin Powers, and Robin Williams.
Take care and Go Left on Walsh's at Ajax Forever! Yeah, Baby! Grrr!
Leave a Tribute
About a year before my brother Andrew passed, I had a conversation with him about business advertising, as he was quite the entrepreneur, and always creating something new to make the world a better place. I told him that I liked his promo photo on his website, but wasn’t sure if being barefoot was appropriate. Little did I know the message until recently when I was standing barefoot in the sand recently thinking about Andrew. I was saying quietly to him, “ Well, Andrew, maybe barefoot isn’t so bad after all! “… and at that exact moment, a white feather came down from the sky. “
Thank you Andrew for the message to enjoy life and not work so hard all the time. I will miss your ability to springboard the family into lively laughter and electric conversations at the dinner table.
Thank you for showing me how to live life to the fullest! We all will miss our little brother who always surprised us with fun jokes and comedy. You will remain in our hearts as the energetic, talented artist and the life of the party who always knows how to get everyone laughing and having a good time!
“Isn’t this glorious?” Andrew was gazing past me over the top of the Chicago peaks, west towards the divide, as he said it – 2 or 3 times. He had a big smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes. Ya know. . . that Berm twinkle. We were cycling up Mount Evans and stopped somewhere near the top to take a few photos with the mountain goats, and more importantly perhaps, to catch our breath and to take in the beauty of the moment. On that day in September, when these pictures were taken, we were the only ones on the mountain. It was a near perfect, blue-bird Colorado kinda day, on what had become, more or less, an annual ride up the mountain.
The days weren’t always this perfect. Other times, we got rained on, snowed on, hailed on once, and then there was the wind – oh, the wind – much more unforgiving on a bike than on foot. Part of the challenge – the fun – was finding the right day to ride. The road from Echo Lake to the summit always closes after the first couple snows of the season. The trick is to get the timing just right – to find a day when enough snow had fallen to make the road impassible for cars, but not too much to require long, post-holing walks across the ribbons of snow that would cover sections of the road.
Beginning in mid-September, Andrew would monitor the road status for the winter closure, and then start geeking-out on meteorological sites to find a sunny day ahead without the prospect of a cold front and wind. We would share our observations about the weather, but at some point, Andrew would simply call and tell me to clear my calendar for the next day and meet him in Idaho Springs at 6 am.
This is how I experienced Berm and how I will remember him: full of anticipation for the challenge and joy in the moment.
Yes, it was glorious Andrew. All of it.
I will miss you my friend.
Grace and peace,
Tom
Andrew: what I will miss about you:
your accents, the Scottish brogue, the French man - I am sure there were more
your stories - espeically of working on the oil rig, and a many about the boys ski weekend crew - well embellished
your bon vivant nature - I remember a day skiing (I think Snowmass?) and you convinced Wendy, Fred and I that we had to have a fancy lunch with Alsacian wine - as if we were skiing in the Alps. And then just over a year ago you treated us to a sumptuous dinner at Frasca (in the kitchen!) to celebrate Wendy's birthday.
and especially, your talent. The little gem of a tree I posted is one you made for Mo when we first moved here back in 2004. I will continue to treasure it as I will my memories of you.