Hunter Berke still holds onto a handwritten letter his older brother wrote when he couldn’t make it to his college graduation, offering words of wisdom.

Eddie Berke, right, and his brother, Hunter Berke, at a Rhode Island wedding in 2019. Photo courtesy of Bruce Berke

“It’s one of the most beautiful letters I’ve ever read,” he said. “It’s my most prized possession now. If I ever lost it, I don’t know what I would do. I keep it within eyesight at all times.”

This fall, he plans to read that letter at his brother’s celebration of life.

Eddie Berke, 31, of New Haven, Connecticut, died on the Fourth of July after going overboard in Casco Bay on his way back from dinner with friends at Chebeague Island. The Coast Guard called off its search the next day, but his body wasn’t recovered until weeks later. The Office of Chief Medical Examiner positively identified him on Tuesday.

His father, 65-year-old Bruce Berke of Bow, New Hampshire, said it was a tragic accident, and the family is thankful for the efforts the Maine Marine Patrol and U.S. Coast Guard put into the search.

Eddie Berke’s family remembered him this week as a genuine, adventurous man who cared for loved ones and could bond with anyone.

After he graduated from St. Lawrence University in 2015 with a degree in geology, he moved with his best friend to Jackson, Wyoming. That’s where he met his partner, Maddy Pigott, who answered his advertisement for an extra room in the summer of 2016. The two started dating the following spring.

Eddie Berke and his partner, Maddy Pigott, pose for a selfie halfway up the north peak of Kinsman Mountain along the Appalachian Trail in Franconia, New Hampshire. Photo courtesy of Bruce Berke

Hunter Berke, 29, said it took a “special kind of gal” to be up for his brother’s many adventures, like rock climbing and hiking.

Her patience and family values melded with his, and the two became “life partners,” said his father.

“He was just so open to new experiences, to adventure, making the most of every day and of every opportunity,” Hunter Berke said. “It takes a special type of person to do that. People can talk about it, but somebody that’s actually living their best life is very special.”

In 2022, Eddie got his graduate degree in economic geology from Iowa State University and later worked in New Haven as a hydrogeologist. Growing up in New Hampshire, his interest in geology began after many outings rock hunting with his mom, Nancy.

He also had a love of sports, and led Bow High School’s soccer and hockey teams as captain and played baseball.

Hunter Berke said the brothers played hockey on the homemade rink in their front yard. He wanted to join the team with his brother, but when he tried out his freshman year, he didn’t make it.

“There weren’t many spots open on the team, and I took it pretty hard, but Eddie may have taken it harder,” Hunter Berke said.

Eddie Berke at the top of the bowl of Tuckerman Ravine on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. Photo courtesy of Bruce Berke

But the brothers trained together and he made the team the next year, Eddie’s senior year.

Eddie also loved the Boston Red Sox, his father said. In 2003, when Eddie was 10 years old, his father remembered letting him stay up late on a school night to watch the seventh game of the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees. After the loss, Eddie cried and went to bed without saying a word.

“It was just kind of fun to see him become a true Red Sox fan that night and to have that appreciation for what Red Sox fans had been suffering through,” Bruce Berke said.

And of course, Eddie would celebrate a year later when the Red Sox broke the curse.

But he was also a “young Renaissance man” who had “no cookie cutter in his kitchen,” his father said, and was up for any activity and any adventure. On top of being an avid sports fan, he liked to knit covers for his golf clubs , write heartfelt notes and collect vinyl records.

Eddie showed his appreciation for friends and family often, his father said. And he had a positive outlook on everything.

“He had a love for life and wouldn’t want any of us to let life move through us, he would want us to move through life, really take it on the way that he did,” Hunter Berke said.