W. Clark Smith

Clark Smith died peacefully in his home on Monday October 16th. He was 93 years old. As is befitting his life, he died while holding his spouse’s, Joni J. Smith, hand. Clark is survived by his children, Stacy A. Smith, Gregory C. Smith, and Stefanie F. Smith, as well as four grandchildren, Hudson Smith, Henry Smith, Sawyer Smith, and Mary Throop. Clark was born and raised in Los Angeles, with some childhood years spent in San Francisco. He attended United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, graduated with the Class of 1946, and then completed his service after commanding a mine sweeper during the Korean War. After retiring from the Navy, he joined Beverly Finance Corp., a business started by his father, which he owned for the remainder of his years. Clark’s love of outdoor adventure began with family trips including camping, cross-country train and car travel, rafting down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, an equestrian fly fishing trip in the Sierras, and a photographic safari in Africa. He spent the “empty nest” years taking adventure trips with Joni, including hiking to the Mount Everest base camp, travelling down the Amazon River in dugout canoes, staying with pygmy tribes in Irian Jaya, and watching gorillas in Rwanda. As Clark stated early after his diagnosis with Parkinson’s: “I feel lucky for all the years I have had.” In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to either The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Donation Processing, The Michael J. Fox Foundation, PO Box 5014, Hagerstown, MD 21741-5014, 1 (800) 708-7644 or online at www.michaeljfox.org; or the National Parkinson Foundation, 200 SE 1st Street, Suite 800, Miami, Florida 33131, 1 (800) 473-4636, or online at www.parkinson.org.