Recently promoted by Dart Container Corp., Mark Herman was returning from a business trip to a company plant in North Carolina when he boarded Comair's ill-fated Flight 3272.

The 27-year-old engineer had relocated from Lansing, Mich., to Novi, Mich., a Detroit suburb, so his wife Anne, 25, could attend medical school.

''He was really kind of special to an awful lot of people here,'' said Ralph MacKenzie, vice president of technology at Dart Container in Mason, Mich.. The company hired Mr. Herman 6 1/2 years ago, first as a promising co-op from Michigan Tech University.

He shared his ingenuity as an engineer with Mason High School students participating in U.S. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a national competition in which professionals team with students to design robots.

This would have been Mr. Herman's third year helping teen-agers prepare their inventions, which will be judged in March at Orlando's Epcot Center.

''Mark enjoyed working with young people,'' said Mr. MacKenzie, whose company also employs Mr. Herman's brother, Dave.

''He had a great sense of humor,'' Mr. MacKenzie remembered. ''He was a great asset to our company and our department and just a good guy to be around. A lot of people are going to miss him very much.''