Mark Jon Ward

Mark Jon Ward, 41 years old raised in Costa Mesa, CA passed away on August 15th 2022, in his home in Riverside, CA.

Mark was born on July 2, 1981 in Honolulu, Hawaii to Bree Plude and Jovan Mijuskovic.

I’d like the world to know that though Mark struggled with his demons as an adult, as a child he was such a happy, go-lucky, loving boy. He loved to laugh and have fun – life was one big playground to him! He was very mischievous, but even more sweet! And even though it frustrated many teachers – somehow, he was able to charm most of them. Mark was extremely personable and funny, even at an early age!

His favorite sport was basketball, and he was pretty good at it. He played on ‘select’ teams in Washington State and was on the starting five when we returned to Newport Harbor in his Junior year of high school.

As he grew into adulthood, he excelled at his chosen profession of sales and marketing. Mark had the gift of gab! His biggest success was his most recent undertaking where he created StratEdgy, LLC - Cold Outreach – an email marketing company. He took college classes, did a ton of research, reading to figure out how he could be the very best in his field. And he was! He started the business in November of 2020 and built it from nothing with just a computer, cell phone, his thoughts and work ethic. He was headed to hit one million in gross revenue by the end of this year – just 2 years after he started it. To be honest, he was brilliant! With his electric, magnetic personality, and sharp mind - the sky was the limit. Please take a moment to look at his website and see what clients said about his work (as this was the true Mark, the unafflicted Mark). www.stratedgy.io

He also had a love of fishing (which he always wanted to do more of), hiking/camping and just exploring the outdoors. Mark loved shows like ‘National Geographic’ showing how animals lived in the wild, ‘Meat Eater’ (hunting for food) and just loved to watch comedians – one of his favorites was Bill Burr. He was an electronic genius and could figure out anything about computers. And by the way, you never wanted to gamble against him in a game of Texas Holdem!

On a personal note…Mark had a soft spot for the underdog, was respectful to his elders, and loved his family. His nieces and nephew were his world, and he could never say ‘no’ to them. He enjoyed movies and a good TV show, some of his favorites were The Godfather, Swingers, Pulp Fiction, Braveheart, Peaky Blinders, Outlander, and Yellowstone to name a few. Mark was a foodie. He never passed up a good meal especially one involving his favorite Hawaiian poke or anything spicy!

Did you know…Mark openly admitted he was a Mama’s Boy? That he read the Bible cover to cover? And he interestingly loved carpentry and even built a desk from scratch?

I will tell you a short story of Marks kindness. He and I were in a McDonalds and there was a homeless man sitting at one of the tables. The manager went up to the homeless man and asked him to leave, because he was not ordering anything. Mark went up to the counter, order a ton of food and put it on the table where the homeless man was sitting. And said, “now you don’t have to leave”. That was the type of person Mark was- genuinely compassionate.

Mark is survived by, his Mother (Bree Plude), Father (Edward Ward), sisters (Alicia Downing, Megan Ward, Jelena Mijuskovic)), nephew (Nash Downing), nieces (Emery Downing and Olivia Harris), Aunts (Jane Plude, Carol Manns, Beverly Fougeron and Sonja Mijuskovic), Uncles (Jon Plude, Robert Plude Jr and Stanko Knezevic), Cousins (Collin Manns, Cheston Manns , Catherine Manns and Minja Turcinovic).

Also, Marks beloved family members that have passed are his grandparents (Robert and Theresa Plude), who were a big part of his childhood.

To most people, Mark was the “life of the party”, but to me (his Mom) he was the “light of my life”!

Mark, you are terribly missed and loved, but we will always carry your memory in our hearts, so you are never far.

“God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The Courage to change the things I can and the Wisdom to know the difference.”