Mark York, best known for playing wheelchair user Billy Merchant in seasons 2 to 5 of The Office, died at 55.
On 19th May 2021, he passed away after a brief and unexpected illness at Miami Valley Hospital in Ohio. The cause of his death has not been known yet.
Mark, who has paraplegia since 1988, pursued his career in the entertainment industry. He did not allow his disability to prevent him from leading a positive, outgoing, uplifting life.
The actor’s obit read,
"He always tried to look at what he could accomplish and do, not what he couldn’t do."
"He had experienced many travel opportunities and many dreams for the future. In the past several years, he had been working as an inventor, and had obtained two patents for his inventions."
Mark York The Office Journey
Mark York first appeared in The Office Season 2 as Billy Merchant, the property manager for Dunder Mifflin’s office building. Michael Scott brought Billy into the office for a disability-awareness meeting.
However, Billy was too positive and upbeat for Michael’s purpose, due to which Michael embarrassed himself and insulted Billy.
Later, Mark returned for a total of four episodes and reappeared as Billy in the Season 2 finale “Casino Night” as well as the Season 4 premiere “Fun Run” and Season 5’s “Dream Team.”
Who Was Mark York?
On Billy’s personal website, there was written,
“As an actor, he’s attempting to open the minds of casting directors, and others in Hollywood, to also see a wheelchair-user in real-life roles such as doctors, lawyers, businessmen, and such, because…well, they are.”
Mark York was born on 27th November 1965, making him Sagittarius as Marcus ‘Mark’ York. His parents Glenn E York and Becky York, raised him in Ohio, the United States, alongside his siblings Brian York, David York, and Jeff York.
Mark’s mother, an Arcanum High School graduate, worked at Butler Local Schools and an administrative clerk at Johnson Electric.
Moving back to Mark, for education, he attended The Raven Group College, where he studied Script Analysis and Character Study. Later, he was enrolled at Anderson University; henceforth, earning a triple degree in Sociology, Psychology, and Social Work.
Mark had a height of 6 feet 2 inches (1.87 meters) and weight was 81 kgs.
Career & Net Worth
Mark York started as a theatre actor and trained with Stanislavsky-Uta Hagen-Comprehensive Tech./ under On-camera Tech. With James Beck and the tutelage of Laura Gardner.
In his early days, he played in Lost In the Shuffle and some notable works on television like CSI: New York, 8 Simple Rules, Mind of Mencia, Passions, Covert Action, 6 Feet Under, Courage, Oh Grow Up, and Time of Your Life.
In addition, he has worked in movies like Going All the Way, Artificial Intelligence, Profile, Pretty People, The Haunting of Bear’s Mill, A Man in the Dark, Fighting Words, Inspiration Point, An Unchanged Melody, Park, and The Sick Sense.
Moreover, Mark had also worked on AARP, AT&T, State Farm Insurance, Calif. Dept. of Energy, Secure Horizons, RTA Bus Lines, and St. Mary’s Hospital.
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Furthermore, he had devoted his time to Spinal Cord Injury Research Advancement as the Southern California representative. He mostly worked on finding the cure for spinal cord injuries and raised $3 million to start a clinical program under Michael Levesque, a neuro-scientist based at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
When Barack Obama was the US president, Mark, and his group pushed the concern on the table.
During his career, he had made an estimated net worth of $1.5 million.
Was Mark Married?
Despite his professional life, Mark had been very reserved about his personal life. He had never mentioned his relationship or married status. At the time of his passing, he was reported to be single with no active relationship.
