Berryman and colleagues Stephen Stier and Julie Avery created the Berryman MSU Museum Curator of History Endowment, funded by gifts from their estates, according to an MSU Museum release. The money will fund a new curatorial position at the MSU Museum that will enhance its programs.

Mike Smola, now a curator at a museum in Hawaii, worked for Berryman cataloging MSU Museum’s collections about 10 years ago.

Smola said he considered Berryman a mentor and wasn’t surprised he gave back to the facility — after all, the museum was Berryman’s life, he said.

“It’s an amazing gift,” Smola said. “It’ll help ensure the care of the collections that Val very much put together single-handedly in a lot of ways.”

MSU Museum Director Gary Morgan said the endowment will serve as another legacy to Berryman’s commitment to history and education at the museum.

“It is a fantastic gift from Val, and Julie and Steve and will ensure the museum’s historical programs are strong and vibrant into the future,” Morgan said in the release. “There is no better way for Val’s name to be remembered.”

Berryman died of bone cancer complications Jan. 11 at Hospice House of Mid-Michigan. He was 72 years old.

Last week, the MSU Museum unveiled the “Adventures in Time and the Third Dimension” exhibit, which features 3-D photographs. Berryman began working on the collection as a teenager and later donated it to the museum.

“That’s great to see a collection he started in his childhood is now at least partially on display,” Smola said.

The other endowment donors, Avery and Stier, also had influential roles at the museum. Avery recently retired after serving multiple roles at the facility, including acting museum director, assistant curator of history, director of education and curator of rural life and culture, according to MSU Today.

Stier has worked since 1995 as a research associate with the history and folk arts unit of the museum.