Mark Stafford

A life-long Eugenean, Mark Stafford attended River Road, Kelly, and North Eugene schools, while his family was steadily disintegrating into alcoholism. "My friends were going to college," says Stafford, who instead joined the army to get the GI Bill, then earned a UO business degree in 1980. A year later, he got a start in video as an assistant on a documentary series for athletes by UO track coach Bill Dellinger. Afterwards, he sold his motorcycle to buy a VHS camera and founded Stafford Video Productions. Though SVP mostly works with local businesses and arts groups, specializing in training videos, it has also provided Stafford with adventures across the US and around the world, including three projects for National Geographic in the past five years. In 2000, he smuggled a prohibited video camera into the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid. "Right now, we're finishing a huge project on Parkinson's," he says. "I'm getting paid, but contributing a lot of time." Look for the five-part documentary, Many Faces of Parkinson's, directed by Vicki Anderson of Leaburg, on CTV channel 29 at 4pm Sundays, beginning February 26. Also on February 26, SVP is up for Oscar mention as a contributor to the documentary feature, If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front.