James (Jim) Arthur Berg was born August 22, 1930 in Rolette, North Dakota. He attended school in Bisbee, N.D. and graduated there in 1948. He graduated from North Dakota State University (NDSU) in 1952. After serving in the United Sates Army during the Korean War, Berg returned to NDSU to complete a master's degree in agricultural economics. On December 18, 1956, he married Nona Benson in Cando, North Dakota. The couple had four children together. They lived in Devils Lake, N.D., where he was the assistant county agent for the Ramsey County Extension Service. They later moved to Steele, N.D. where he served as county extension agent for Kidder County. In 1962 he started working in agricultural communications at NDSU.

After his retirement in 1987, Berg served as director of Great Plains Food Bank in Fargo and governor of the Dakotas-Manitoba-Minnesota District of Optimist International. As a Democrat, Berg served in both the North Dakota House of Representatives and the State Senate for District 44 in Fargo. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1992 after two previously failed campaigns. In 1994 he was again defeated, but was later elected to the state senate in 1996.

Berg was noted for his work as a foster parent and for helping refugees resettle in the area. He was concerned with children's issues and focused much of his work in the state legislature on youth services. He was known for playing the role of Santa for Santa Village in Fargo's Island Park for ten years. As an active member of the Lutheran Church he took part in missions to Mexico and the Middle East. Berg died in office as a state senator on September 20, 1997.  
 

James A. Berg Legislative papers   |  Politics and Government