WARREN — Mark LeRoy Erickson died of a heart attack on June 23, 2023, in his home in Warren, Maine. He was born in Rockland on April 17, 1951, to Carl Erickson and Mary (Norwood) Erickson Stewart.

Mark was a baseball and basketball star at Warren High School before graduating from Medomak Valley in 1969. He graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in Art in 1975. After college, he attended the prestigious Skowhegan School of Art.

He was a creative talent. As a boy, Mark assembled a huge HO-scale racetrack replete with mountains and tunnels. Years later, he built a dune buggy which he drove in local gravel pits. He also constructed a futuristic vehicle that featured hydraulic doors and camping options.

Mark was an excellent painter, gravitating toward real-life scenes in cafes, at fairs, and beaches. In the early 1980s, he was scheduled for a showing of his works at a prestigious gallery in Manhattan before a change of gallery ownership nixed the opportunity.

After traveling and living in Europe, he returned to the U.S. to renovate a sailboat that he named Peregrine. Mark sailed through the islands of the Caribbean for months before settling in Puerto Rico where he lived on Peregrine for 25 years.

In July 2015, Mark bought the old courthouse in downtown Warren where he lived and worked. He continued to create, recently using mixed media as his technique of choice.

Predeceased by his parents, Mark is survived by his siblings: Karen Salenius and partner George Bell, of Warren; Rick Erickson, of Nobleboro and partner Pam Wallace, and Dean Erickson and wife Lisa of Melbourne, Florida.

A “celebration of life” will be held on August 18, from 3 - 5 p.m., at Mark’s home in Warren Village. 

Hall’s of Waldoboro has care of the arrangements.