Mark Epstein

Mark Galen Epstein was born June 2, 1988, and unexpectedly passed away on February 26, 2026, after a brief illness. He spent his childhood in Corvallis, Oregon exploring the Pacific Ocean and learning to rock climb. Mark excelled in organic chemistry at the University of Portland, graduating in 2010. He continued his journey with a master’s degree in organic chemistry at Montana State University. Mark always said that the moment he arrived in Montana he was finally home, and he never looked back. It took a lot of convincing to get Mark to join an adventure that meant leaving the mountains of southwest Montana.

Mark met Caroline Pihl in 2011, and they shared these last 15 incredible years together. Early in their time together, Mark shared that while he thrived in many capacities (skiing, climbing, chemistry) the thing he intended to root his life around was being a dad. He was grateful for his career, but always wanted it to be a means and not a driver. His true life force was giving to his family. This took its shape in many ways; first, as the support person while Caroline journeyed through medical school and then residency. These were not easy years; after residency, they were again able to have free rein over their life path. They moved to Lander, Wyoming in 2020 for their next adventure.

In March 2020, Mark and Caroline celebrated the birth of their first beautiful daughter, Ingrid Wren. True to Mark’s early intentions, starting a family defined everything. Mark carried Ingrid every morning on his back all over the foothills of the Wind River Mountains during the scariest of pandemic years. He changed his work to be the main caregiver while Caroline started her career in family medicine. Mark and Caroline were delighted to move back to her hometown of Livingston, MT in late 2021. For the second time in his life, in February 2022, he found true joy in the birth of his second beautiful daughter, Anneli Lillian. Life was everything that Mark and Caroline had dreamed.

These last four years were a beautiful and chaotic symphony of raising girls, work, and spending every moment as a little family of four in the mountains. He continued to work remotely in pharmaceutical drug development, but his greatest gift (and as Mark often said, his proudest achievement) was raising two strong-willed, independent, tough Montana girls. While these little girls only got to have a glimpse of life with their papa, in that short time he taught them both to ride their pedal bikes, held their hands (or carried them) on seven different backpacking adventures into the nearby wilderness, launched them on their alpine skis, spent countless hours doing arithmetic with Ingrid and learned that he was soon to be outpaced by them on their nordic skis. On his final family adventure just 10 days before his passing, he celebrated Ingrid’s first 5k skate ski race in West Yellowstone and accompanied Anneli on her own first 3k race. Always the cheering, loving and incredible parent, Mark truly gave everything to his family. We will miss him endlessly and carry him with us to mountain meadows, snowy peaks and all the places his little girls’ feet will carry them.

Mark is survived by his wife Caroline Pihl (Livingston, MT); daughter, Ingrid Wren Epstein (6), daughter, Anneli Lillian Epstein (4); sister Jessalyn Epstein (Oregon); father and mother-in-law, Ron and Desiree Pihl (Pray, MT); and mother, Linda Brewer (Oregon), he was preceded in death by his father Dennis Epstein. He was beloved by friends too numerous to list. Donations can be made in his honor to Farm to School of Park County and West Yellowstone Ski Education Foundation. A celebration of life will be held at a later date.