Answer:
I'm a bit confused about this and have been looking online to try to clarify it. I transferred to the University of Texas in 1979 and spent the first few months in a dorm where Berke was also staying. I didn't know him but knew of him. I thought he was in a wheelchair at the time, like one of his characters in Academia Waltz, and as I recall it he was always attended by a bevy of beautiful girls. But having looked up his biography this seems to be entirely wrong. Maybe it was a case of mistaken identity or hallucination on my part! Maybe someone else can help answer the point.