Mark David Coony

Mark Coony passed away on December 10. Mark was born in Santa Barbara and grew up near Hendry’s Beach. He was an avid surfer, fisherman, sailor, golfer and private pilot. He graduated from Santa Barbara High in 1969 and then attended commercial diving school. In 1972, he followed his sister Martha to Sydney, Australia, where he found employment as a diver. In Sydney, he met the love of his life Bobbie Willis from the UK. They married in 1977 and had three sons, Robert, James and Michael. In 1980, Mark moved the family back to Santa Barbara. For thirty years he worked at UCSB as a maintenance supervisor in married student housing and facilities. Mark, a master of conflict resolution, either within the family or among the workforce, was always calm in adversity. He had a great sense of humour and could take the tension out of any situation with a wry smile or a joke. He was a loving and active father, who taught his boys to surf and sail with the Santa Barbara Seashells. He became a commodore in the 1990s. He and his younger son, Michael, sailed as valued crew members on Dan Durbeck’s boat Perfect Timing. Mark’s family, his brother Eric, and his sister Martha Holman’s family ― husband John, and children, Nicholas and Jessica spent every holiday, and family occasion together, opening up their homes to friends and family from England and Australia. When Mark retired from UCSB in 2008, he and Bobbie moved back to Australia to join “their boys”, setting up home in the quiet beach town of Nambucca Heads, where Robert and his wife Lauren live. He and Bobbie were on hand to be grandparents to Sam, Ryder; and James and Kate’s two children, Finn and Nova. Mark’s great delight was to cook them American-style pancakes and waffles on a Sunday morning. In Nambucca Heads, Mark engaged in his passions for surfing, fishing, golf, and photography. The youngest son, Michael, still lives in Santa Barbara with his wife Lyndsay. Mark and Bobbie would make regular trips back to here to see friends and family, the most recent being in 2019 for his sister Martha’s 70th birthday bash. Sadly COVID ended those visits. Mark was loved by everyone who knew him. He will be sorely missed as he has left a gaping hole in our lives.