Mark Jon Kopp passed away at 3 AM, January 31st after a 2 week battle with a heart condition complicated by diabetes. He was a warm and gentle giant of a man that will be missed. He graduated from Eau Claire North High in 1973. He loved baseball and was the star left-handed pitcher with a nasty slider that he was proud of along with a good fast ball. He was invited to a Cincinnati Reds tryout camp but unfortunately development a sore arm. He also loved basketball since his height of 6'4" and vertical jump of 36 plus inches allowed him to compete at a high level. He graduated from Stout College with a bachelor degree in industrial engineering, but found his true love in plants and trees so he attended the DuPage horticulture school in Chicago. After graduated from DuPage he immediately started working for a commercial greenhouse in Clinton Iowa. Home sick, he located back in Eau Claire and started work for May's Floral. After gaining enough experience he started his own company, Kopp's Growing Grounds in 1989 at W6315 State Rd 85. He with the help of others built numerous greenhouses on that property and started selling bedding plants, trees, perennials and poinsettia's commercially and retail. He closed the business in 2010 and retired, but not before he planted 20+ 100ft rows of blueberries that people come and pick to this day (Shout out to Charles Kwick that helps maintain them). Kopps Growing Grounds was his life's work. He is survived by his brother, Ron, and cousins, Jeffery, Richard Jr, and Randy Kopp, Mary Rae Hoepner (Larry Hoepner passed), Robert Tyler, and Marjorie Tyler (Tim Tyler passed), James Stewart, and Pamela Woodford, sister-in-law, Kim Kopp, niece, Caroline Fisher-Haase, and nephew, Alan Kopp. He was preceded in death by; mother, Ruth Kopp (Tyler), father, Arthur Kopp, brother, Wayne, uncles and aunts, Richard and Deloris Kopp, Merle and Alma Stewart, Ray and Phyllis Tyler, Toby &Todd Tyler, Irene Kopp, and Bonita and Bernhard Stelter. A visitation for Mark will be held on Wednesday, February, 7, 2024 from 11:00 AM until 2:00 PM at Lenmark-Gomsrud-Linn Funeral and Cremation Services, 814 First Ave., Eau Claire. Burial will be in Brunswick Cemetery. Online condolences may be left for Mark's family at www.lenmarkfh.com.