Mark Nathaniel Bragg was born into a family of girls Aug. 8, 1957, in Omaha, Nebraska. His young parents Phyllis Jean (Watts), a second-grade teacher, and James (Sonny) Bragg, a printing press operator, had already welcomed a set of identical triplet girls and would later add two more girls to the family.

Although surrounded by girls, Mark developed his own identity, discovered his own interests, nurtured long-lasting friendships, and forged a special relationship with each sister.

The family settled in Cleveland, Ohio, first in a two-family home on Parkwood Avenue and a few years later to a single-family home on East 125th Street and Shaw Avenue, with a large cherry tree situated in spacious fenced-in back yard. It is where Mark often played catch, marbles, stick ball, touch football, and other sporting games with the boys he met in the neighborhood and at school.

Mark attended Hazeldell Elementary School in the Cleveland Public School System. Identified as a gifted math student, he transferred into the Major Work Program offered at Memorial Junior

High, where he played baseball and learned to play the violin and alto saxophone. The latter provided a gateway into jazz, a passion he shared with his father.

The family moved to Cleveland Heights in 1972. Mark brought his baseball bat, glove, and ball with the hope of getting a spot on the Cleveland Heights High School baseball team. He made the varsity team but soon became discouraged as he didn’t believe he and the other Black players were being treated fairly or given ample time in the field.

So, he turned his attention to basketball, mostly recreational, where he met fellow ballers who became some of his lifelong friends.

Mark was also a talented sketch artist, favoring pencils over paint. He became adept at drawing and designing things with mechanical pencils and was encouraged to pursue a career in engineering. A 1975 graduate of Heights High, Mark attended Cuyahoga Community College and earned an Associate of Applied Science degree in mechanical engineering technology.

He began his career as an apprentice at Coleman Spohn Corp., then took his growing skills as a mechanical draftsman and piping designer to the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Painesville, Ohio, then onto Jacobs Engineering in Cleveland. After a few years, he accepted a position with Johnson Controls in Augusta, Georgia.

Around this time, he met and later married Georgia Walker Aldridge on Nov. 8, 1991, in Atlanta, Georgia. The couple relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where they lived for 11 years. He worked for Proctor & Gamble for several years, before deciding to become a contractor, working as a piping designer on engineering and construction projects that took him to Des Moines, Iowa; Pasco, Washington; Boston, Massachusetts; Canada, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he learned how to make Cajun-style dishes, and finally to Houston, Texas, where he continued his contracting work until retiring in 2015.

Sports was a constant in Mark’s life. As a boy, he watched “Big Time Wrestling” and played Little League baseball. He also played golfs. Yet no matter what major city he lived in that had a professional sports team, Mark remained a diehard fan of the Cleveland Guardians (née Indians), Cleveland Browns, and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

In addition to sports, Mark liked to cook. He loved to grill and along with Georgia, entertain neighbors sharing his specialty: grilled chicken, Jambalaya, and spicy shrimp creole. He introduced his family to fried turkey and “Turducken,” a hearty combination of chicken, duck, and turkey, which he sometimes made for Thanksgiving and other holidays.

Mark was a livelong Episcopalian, having been baptized Nov. 14, 1957, at St. Phillip’s Episcopal Church in Omaha. When is family made Cleveland their home and joined St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Mark was confirmed Dec. 1, 1968, by Bishop John Burl. He joined the youth group at St. Andrews and served as an acolyte during his teen and young adult years under then Rev. Austin R. Cooper Sr.

When Mark and Georgia settled in Houston, they attended Church Without Walls under the ministry of Pastor Ralph W. West. Upon their return to Cleveland in 2019, Mark split his worship time between St. Andrews and Gethsemane Baptist Church, where his wife holds membership. He relished spending time with family and friends: organizing card parties and events with friends, discussing jazz and politics with his dad, attending sports-related outings with sister Lisa; taking the grandchildren to local parks and play areas; and luring his other sisters to sample his cooking.

Ever outgoing and socially at ease, Mark took on two part-time jobs in retirement in part to engage and interact with people and get in some light exercise.

Despite his health challenges, Mark never missed an opportunity to express his gratitude for being alive, for being able to get around, do what he enjoyed, and spend time with people he loved. Mark regularly reached out to his sisters on any given day, especially when he was undergoing dialysis treatments. “Hey Sis’s,” he would text, “Blessed and grateful to be in my right mind and to see another day.”

Mark suffered a heart attack July 29 while at home with his wife and succumbed peacefully August 6.

He was predeceased by his mother, Phyllis Bragg (1987); a brother, Charles Lamont Bragg (1977), an aunt, Phyllis Joy Egland (2010) and a sister, Shelia Bragg Ukaogo (2012).

In addition to Georgia, his wife of more than 30 years, son Marcus, and father James, he leaves to celebrate his life, sisters Valencia Bragg, Sharon Bragg, Cheryl Jones, Marsha (Danny) Myhand, and Lisa Bragg; three nieces Ciara (Robert) Brown, Iesha Myhand, and Nia Myhand; four nephews Montel (Janet) Bragg, Carlton (Monique) Bragg, Chris Bragg, and Elton Agu Ukaogo; sister in-law Diane Jackson; son-in-law David (Lucretia) Aldridge; aunt Joann (Raleigh) Savage; uncle John (Kathy) Bragg; numerous cousins; a grandnephew; six grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and many longtime friends.

Consider making a gift to honor Mark Nathaniel Bragg by donating to the National Kidney Foundation, www.kidney.org.

The family thanks Gethsemane Baptist Church and Calhoun Funeral Home Rockside Road for their care and for handling the services.