Max Mallory was a kind, giving, and driven man who made a big impact on all those he came across in his short life. He had a passion for helping those less fortunate than him and enjoyed befriending those who he viewed as outcasts or people who didn’t fit in. Max had a passion for writing and video games from a young age. He was involved in the school paper at his high school in Park Ridge, Illinois, and did a lot of personal writing in his free time. He liked to participate yearly in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoRiMo), a challenge to writers to write a full-length novel in just a month’s time.
Max’s passions were evident from a young age, but when he got to college at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, he truly flourished. Max originally majored in English, but decided to change to a double major after he discovered the Media Arts and Game Design program at the university. He was involved heavily in the program, writing for gaming websites such as Game Zombie and Indie Game Insider, as well as creating games of his own. Max participated yearly in the MAGD Expo, a competition within the university to create a game or website. He also participated in several “game jams” at the university. These were contests in which teams of students had 24 or 48 hours to create a video game from scratch. Many of these contests were held to help raise money for charitable foundations.
Max graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2015 and got a job directly out of college at a Whitewater-based startup company called Mobile Mesh Games. He was the community manager for the company, handling social media and other online projects. Max’s life was turned upside down in October 2015, when he was diagnosed with stage 3C testicular cancer. He fought hard through his battle with cancer that included two major surgeries and two rounds of chemotherapy. Max decided during this process that his career in the video game industry could wait. He wanted to dedicate his life to helping young adults with cancer once he was cured. Unfortunately, Max passed away in May 2016. We advance his wishes with this foundation.