Mark William Sachs

Mark William Sachs, beloved husband, father, brother, uncle, and friend, entered eternal life on April 16, 2025, at the age of 59, following a 5-year battle with glioblastoma brain cancer. Born August 14, 1965, to Donald and Barbara Sachs, he grew up on Fourth Street in Kimberly with his brother and five sisters. After graduating from Kimberly High School (1983), Mark earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Lawrence University. He participated in track and was a member of the Lawrence Vikings 1986 Midwest Regional Champions football team. He joined the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, where he met many lifelong friends. In 1989, Mark earned a Masters in Paper Science from the Institute of Paper Chemistry.

Mark’s career spanned 30 years with Kimberly Clark Corporation until his 2020 brain cancer diagnosis. For 18 years of his career, he worked as a Process Engineer at the Marinette WI mill. His exemplary work on the tissue machine made him a natural “go-to” person. In 2007, Mark joined the Research and Development Team-Family Care in Neenah, where he developed new products and process improvements, and commercialized them nationally and internationally. His international travels took him to Australia, England, Italy, Mexico. Mark’s leadership qualities, innovative mindset, and work ethic earned him 39 lifetime patents. He enjoyed mentoring many new engineers and building relationships with all the people he worked with. When he retired, it was the people he missed the most.

In 1988, Mark met the love of his life, Gwen Walbrun. A chance meeting at a downtown Appleton bar was the start of their 36-year love story. They married April 23, 1994, at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Kimberly. Mark embraced fatherhood with two children, Alyssa (1996) and Mike (1999). Teaching the children new things and sharing his own love of sports, fishing, and hunting with them brought him so much joy. In Menominee MI, he loved tooling around on the ATV or snowmobile with kids in tow, and all those “Don’t Tell Mom Moments.” Each summer, Mark looked forward to fishing, happy hour cruises, campfires at night, and precious family time at Roberts Lake. Mark and Gwen enjoyed going to concerts, dining out, attending sports events, and travelling to beach locations. In 2024, they celebrated their 30-year anniversary. Mark will be remembered most for his sense of humor, warm personality, and zest for life.

Mark was continually active, and his interests were unlimited. He took immense pride in his ability to tackle any project. Mark liked to share project videos and pictures to help others using his personal hashtag “SackmanA2ZRepair” on social media. Mark’s hobbies included working out each day, fishing, hunting, biking, boating, hiking, and cheering on the Packers and Kimberly Papermakers. He was competitive but also cherished the solitude of being in nature. As an avid biker, Mark participated in the Race the Lake 90-mile ride around Lake Winnebago and yearly “Get Up and Ride’ challenges, biking to work in Neenah each day. Mark’s love of football led to coaching his son’s flag football, Pop Warner, and Kimberly Bulldog football teams. He retired his whistle after 5 years of coaching and claimed his regular spot in the stands to cheer on the Kimberly Papermakers under the Friday Night Lights.

Mark touched many people throughout his lifetime, but it was his cancer journey that impacted others the most. His grateful attitude towards life, fighting spirit to survive, and his dedication to keeping himself healthy despite the diagnosis, was admirable and inspiring. In his last act of selflessness, Mark donated brain cancer tissue to several cancer research projects to help find cures for his disease. Throughout his journey, he never gave up hope and appreciated the time he had making memories with friends and family. Faith, the promise of eternal life, and steadfast support from loved ones carried him through each day over the past 5 years.

Mark is survived by his wife Gwen, daughter Alyssa (Fiancé Wyatt Swan), and son Mike. He is further survived by sisters Robin (Glen) Koehler, Suzanne (Robert) Hopfensperger, Penny (Stan) Hanson, Connie (Kirk) Weidler; nieces and nephews Amy (Matt) Mott, Jen (Rob) Turner, Jeff Palmer, Sam (Shena) Palmer, Mitch (Madeline) Hughes, Hadassah Hughes, Rob (Jenny) Hopfensperger, Andy (Kirsten) Hopfensperger, Katie Mason (George Anderson), Carly (Alex) Vechart, Lauren Schraa, Kaitlin (Michael) Weiseler, Renee Weidler, Samantha Weidler, brother-in-law Wade (Ellen) Walbrun; mothers-in-law Carmen Robinson and Mary Walbrun; great nieces and nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles, Uncle Ken Sachs whom he was close to, and many good friends.

He is preceded in death by his parents Donald and Barbara (Evers) Sachs, brother Michael, sister Sherry, grandparents Harold and Mary (Ebben) Sachs and Joseph and Josephine (Hietpas) Evers, fathers-in-law Ken Walbrun and Paul Robinson, and sister-in-law Anne Walbrun.

A Celebration of Life event to honor Mark will be held on Sunday, May 18, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm at Waverly Beach in Menasha. Event Schedule: Visitation 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm, Tributes to Mark 2:45 pm – 3:30 pm, followed by a Social Hour and Buffet. A funeral service will be held Monday May 19, 11:00 am at Holy Spirit Parish, 620 E. Kimberly Avenue, Kimberly. Visitation will be held 9:45 am- 11:00 am before mass.

Special thanks to the Nursing, CNA, and Therapy staff at Rennes Health and Rehab, and the ThedaCare Hospice team for their excellent care. Thank you to all those who followed Mark’s journey on CaringBridge and offered him words of encouragement. It meant so much to him.

In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund will be established.

Mark’s favorite verse: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” ~ Joshua 1:9