Mark Barhanovich, Biloxi’s son, dies in boating accident Sunday [The Sun Herald]

Sept. 17--BILOXI -- Family and friends packed the emergency room of Ocean Springs Hospital on Sunday morning when they heard of a boating accident that claimed the life of Mark Barhanovich, 54.

Word spread quickly.

Later they came in a steady stream to his home in Biloxi, friends said, to honor the life of a man described as a pillar of the Biloxi community, the rock of his family and a generous man who never met a stranger.

An athlete in his youth, he was the youngest of Frank "Yankie" Barhanovich's five children and followed in his father's footsteps in the insurance business and as a supporter of the community. Biloxi High School'sYankie Stadium was named for his father.

At around 6:30 a.m. Sunday, the 23-foot center-console fishing boat Mark Barhanovich was on hit a submerged object in the Mississippi Sound. The impact ripped the motor off the stern and threw it into the boat, according to state DMR Marine Patrol investigators, and the propeller hit Barhanovich in the back. A friend was with him in the boat.

Another friend, fishing with them in a second boat, ferried an Acadian Ambulance crew and Ocean Springs police officer to the crippled boat to aid Barhanovich. They got him ashore and then transported him to the Ocean Springs Hospital by ambulance, but he was dead shortly before 8 a.m.

His older brothers Frank Barhanovich, a former Biloxi councilman and a city commissioner before that, and Kenny Barhanovich, a charter boat captain, said Sunday they were devastated.

"When my dad died in '87, Mark was the rock of the family," Frank Barhanovich said. "He was a lot like my daddy, the most generous man you would ever meet. He was just a really good person.

"This is an absolute, total shock," he said. "I'm 70 years old and never would have dreamed I would be burying my little brother. I'm going to miss him, too."Frank Barhanovich said

that by the location of the accident, off the eastern end of Deer Island, Mark likely was fishing for trout.

"He loved fishing," he said.

Kenny Barhanovich rushed in from a charter at the news of the accident.

"He didn't deserve this," he said. "My daddy never met a stranger and neither did Mark. He loved the City of Biloxi and he loved sports.

"Biloxi lost a great citizen," he said.

Mark Barhanovich leaves his wife, Jerrie, two daughters, a son and two grandchildren, one just three weeks old, said Don Marie Jr., his cousin and friend. Mark played football and baseball for Biloxi High and had been a place kicker for USM, Marie said.

He loved being an alumni of both schools. He was at USM's football game Saturday afternoon and talked about plans to get in some fishing Sunday.

Vincent Creel, spokesman for the city, said people toss around the term "pillar of the community" casually, "but Mark Barhanovich was the epitome of a pillar of the community. He came from a great family. He raised a great family.

"He was someone who was well liked by many, and for good reason," Creel said. "I remember him for all of the great things that I saw him do, and how he always had a smile on his face and a gleam in his eye."

Mark Barhanovich has been the Lions Club Father of the Year, and was a longtime member of the Lion's Club, the Slavonian Lodge, Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church and the Knights of Columbus in Biloxi.

"Mark got a lot of his traits from his father," Marie said. "He genuinely liked to help people."

He loved the outdoors, grew up working on a family boat and was an avid golfer.

"I'm just numb right now, in disbelief," Marie said. "It just doesn't seem like it happened."

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