Larry Berke A Prominent Figure In Golden Age Of Videogames Dies At 90

Larry "Berke" Berkelhamer, former general sales manager of Midway Games, died Dec. 20. He was 90.

Berke arrived at Midway Manufacturing Co., as it was called then, in 1970, working out of the company's Schiller Park, IL, office. Berke would helm Midway's sales efforts through the Golden Age of videogames.

Pac-Man was among the hit Midway games that Berke sold. The popularity of Pac-Man among female players surprised even Midway personnel. ''We only became aware of it when women kept calling us and saying it was 'adorable,'" Berke told The New York Times in a July 6, 1981, interview. Of course, Ms. Pac-Man soon followed. He would eventually leave Midway to work for Design Plus, which made a bowling game for arcades.

A member of the Greatest Generation, Berke served in the army during World War II and spent the latter days of the war in a German POW camp.

He is survived by his wife, LaVerne (nee Schwartz); children, Cary Berkelhamer, Nancy Sakol, Donna Hodges and Bob Berkelhamer, along with seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

The family asks that donations in his name be made to the Wounded Warriors Project.