Retired Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Deputy Mark A. Ward passed away peacefully in the presence of family and friends on Nov. 15, 2024 after his second valiant battle with cancer. He was 76.
If you created a character like Mark Ward in a book or movie critics would say he wasn’t credible. No one person could be a skilled law enforcement officer, popular radio personality, talented voice-over actor, professional audio enhancement technician, spell-binding storyteller. and all-around man about town. Plus a pretty good cook.
But Mark was all those things, as he would be the first to tell you.
Ward began his law enforcement career in 1968 as a cop in Needles, the match head of California. He moved to balmy Santa Barbara a few years later where he pursued his interest in radio by joining the DeLuxe Radio Theater comedy troupe.
Ward’s most famous character, loudmouth Harv Kirschner of Harv Kirschner’s Happy Face Motors, was written for him by founding member Richard Procter.
Procter and Ward went on to host an award-winning morning drive time show on KTYD-FM in the mid-1970s, featuring “The Nude News” and commercial parodies.
But showbiz fame proved fleeting, and Mark soon found himself working as a patrol officer for Lompoc Police Department. He and his wife Nancy bought their first home there.
They both missed Santa Barbara, however, and returned after Mark landed a position with the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office, assigned to Headquarters Station in 1994.
It was only after transferring to Isla Vista Foot Patrol where he truly found his niche, using his outsized personality and big voice to full effect.
Mark graduated to detective for five years but eventually realized he missed patrol duty. He signed on for a third tour with IV Foot Patrol and went on to become a field training officer, taking “raw rookies” under his wing.
He retired in 2015 at age 67, making him one of the oldest active-duty police officers in the state at the time.
Never one to lounge around, Mark came out of retirement to work six years as a security officer for Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital until just a few weeks before his death.
Mark A. Ward is survived by his wife Nancy; stepsons Ryan and Sean; and stepdaughter Jackie.
In lieu of cards or flowers Nancy has asked that donations be made in Mark’s name to the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Benevolent Posse, sbsheriffsposse.org.
A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 25 at the Santa Barbara Elks Club in Goleta.