Mark F. Roling, 67, of Elgin, Illinois, passed away unexpectedly on November 3, 2026. Anyone who knew Mark knew his wacky sense of humor. He was a born jokester who could find something funny in any circumstance, and he rarely missed a chance to make the people around him laugh. Mark loved playing music, watching football and making movies.
Mark spent his early years in Northbrook, Illinois, growing up in a big family with four brothers and sisters and plenty of cousins, many of whom remained close to him all his life. When he was 12, the family moved to Delavan, Wisconsin, the place he always considered his true hometown.
Mark met the love of his life, Rebecca, in Oxnard, California. Within the first five minutes of their first date, they discovered they had both grown up in Northbrook and had both moved away at age 12, Rebecca to Santa Barbara and Mark to Delavan. They married in 2018 and loved the life they built together, first in California and then in Illinois.
Mark was a third-generation Notre Dame fan who proudly passed that love on to two more generations. He was just as devoted to the Green Bay Packers. All season long, Saturdays were blue and gold for the Fighting Irish, and Sundays were green and gold for the Packers. Music was part of Mark from a young age. He never stopped playing, picking up the drums and guitar just for the fun of it.
Mark’s career took him from small-town Wisconsin to Hollywood and back again. After earning a degree in criminal justice from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, he served as an officer with the Lake Geneva Police Department and wrote in his spare time. His first script sale became the basis for the hit film Internal Affairs, starring Richard Gere, and he moved to Los Angeles to chase his dream. He spent 20 years as an executive heading studio operations at Warner Bros., supporting shows and films such as Friends, ER, The West Wing, and Ocean’s Eleven, and he was enormously proud of that work and of the lifelong friendships he made along the way. He later founded Hungry Dragon Films, and in 2024 he brought filmmaking home, directing and co-writing the short film Visions of Her in his beloved Delavan with local actors and students. It went on to win more than 30 awards at festivals around the world.
Most recently, Mark was a founding partner of Americana Studios Entertainment Group, which is building a movie studio in Pitman, New Jersey. On October 26, 2026, after nearly a year of work, he and his partners won unanimous approval from the Pitman City Council to a standing ovation from the community. He won’t be here to see the studio built, but he got to see the green light, and for a man who spent his life in the movie business, there could hardly be a better final scene.
Mark is survived by his wife, Rebecca (Jacobs) Roling; his daughter, Angela Roling; his grandson, Benjerman Roy Sanchez; his sister, Cindy (Dave) Kraayeveld; his brother, Tom (Christy) Roling; four nephews and six nieces; and 21 great-nieces and great-nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Edward and Helene Roling; his sister, Janet Roling; and his brother, Edward Roling Jr.
A celebration of Mark’s life will be held in Delavan in the spring of 2027. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
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