It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Mark D. Finch.  He passed away at his home unexpectedly on August 14, 2023.  He was an active sailor, mountain biker and lived life full of adventure.  Mark was born December 13, 1947 in Glendale, California to his parents Don and Helen Finch.  Mark was married twice.  He had two children, Mitchum and Lisa, from his first marriage.  During this period in San Jose, California, he worked as a precision parts machinist following in his father's footsteps, and then as a roofer and house painter.  He was raised in San Jose, CA with his brother Don and sister Deborah.

After his divorce, Mark moved to Colorado to attend the University of Colorado, Boulder, majoring in architecture.  This is when he met Mary Murray on the slopes of the Rockies, they were married on May 5th, 1980 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  They were avid skiers and traveled to all the black diamond ski areas.  Home was LaSelva Beach, California. He built custom homes in the Santa Cruz area.

In 1989 their home was hit by the 6.9 San Francisco earthquake, this is when they gave up their skis for sailing, moving to Marco Island, Florida to live on a 44' sailboat. They took their daughters out of school and sailed the Caribbean and British Virgin Islands for a few years. While sailing Mark noticed he was losing his hearing. They decided to sell the sailboat and move back to California to be closer to family. Mark was diagnosed with acoustic neuroma and had brain surgery to remove the tumor. He lost most of his hearing, but that didn't hinder him.

After a lengthy recovery while living in Santa Rosa, California and West Linn, Oregon, he took his family on another adventure moving them to beautiful Anacortes, Washington.  He designed and built custom homes in Anacortes, but sailing was his true calling  At the age of 50 he decided to switch careers and start Ship Harbor Yacht Charters.  Mark would buy yachts in the Caribbean, sail them to Florida and have them shipped to Anacortes.

In January, Mark finally retired at, what he would say "the young age of 75", and was looking forward to traveling, boating up to Desolation Sound and spending more time with his kids and grandchildren.  He was an avid bike rider riding all the trails in Anacortes and roads in Skagit County.

Survivors from Mark's first marriage are son Mitchum Finch and daughter Lisa Finch, and grandchildren Ashlee and Kyren Finch; from his second marriage, survivors are former spouse and friend Mary Murray, daughter Helen "Nelly" (Finch) Rowland and her spouse Mark Rowland, daughter Katharine "Kate" Finch and her spouse Christian Chandler, and grandchildren Campbell and Crew Rowland; and other survivors were sister Deborah Finch and her spouse Michael Marcus, and niece Amanda Marcus. Mark was preceded in death by his parents Donald and Helen Finch, and brother Donald Finch.

"I wanted freedom, open air, and adventure. I found it on the sea."
Alaina Gerbault.

A Celebration of Life will be held next summer for his immediate family. To check for service updates, please bookmark this direct link www.evanschapel.com/obituary/mark-finch . To share memories of Mark, please sign the online guestbook at Evans.