North Amherst, MA – Daniel Berry, beloved son, father, partner, friend, and colleague, died on Tuesday, September 22nd, with family at his side holding his hand.
Daniel was born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1979 to Eva Polgar and Paul Berry. He spent his early years exploring the city, beaches, and forests of the area and developed a lifelong love and appreciation for the natural world alongside his father, an accomplished botanist. He moved to the U.S. at the age of eighteen to complete a B.A. in Architecture at Princeton University, where he developed enduring friendships with many classmates, before earning a master’s degree in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Driven by a deep sense of responsibility to do meaningful work and improve the lives of others and the world around him, Daniel helped provide food, housing, and sustainable energy to his communities in a variety of ways. He brought care, humility, and curiosity to every endeavor, from architectural work in New York City and urban planning in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, to organic horse-powered farming at Natural Roots Farm in Conway, Massachusetts; founding his own beekeeping and honey business, Invisible Cities Apiary; and as a proud worker-owner at the solar cooperative Pioneer Valley Photovoltaics (PV Squared) in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
Across these seemingly different pursuits was a common thread: Daniel wanted to understand how things worked and how their parts related to one another, whether he was considering a building, a city, a farm, a beehive, an energy system, or a community. His curiosity rarely stopped at observation. He wanted to get close enough to understand, participate, make, repair, and care for the things that interested him. A skilled woodworker and lifelong maker, Daniel brought that same curiosity to working with his hands. For Daniel, understanding something often meant getting close enough to make it himself.
Daniel also strove to bring greater beauty and shared understanding into the world through drawing and writing, bringing that same creative spark to everyday tasks. An avid reader, he felt especially connected to the works of Bill McKibben, Wendell Berry, and Italo Calvino, whose Invisible Cities inspired the name of the apiary he founded.
Music was another lifelong source of discovery and connection, whether through live shows, an enduring love of heavy metal, or sharing records with his dear friends at neighborhood Listening Sessions.
He carried his childhood connection to the ocean throughout his life as an enthusiastic surfer and sailor and helped foster that love of the water in his own child’s life through frequent outings together to the beaches of Cape Cod or a woodsy walk to Puffer’s Pond near their home in North Amherst.
He is survived and very much missed by his child, Helena Berry; his dear partner, Brittany Hathaway and her two children; his loving parents, Eva Polgar and Paul Berry; his stepmother, Lois Brako; Helena’s mother Suzanne Stillinger; his extended family and friends; and his colleagues at local farms and PV Squared.
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