Marshall Clark, formerly of Greenwich and East Hampton N.Y., died on Feb. 20, 2018 at Essex Meadows retirement home in Essex of natural causes at the age of 96. He had been in declining health for some time.
Mr. Clark was born in Cambridge, N.Y. on July 17, 1921 to Kenneth F. Clark and Elizabeth (Marshall) Clark. He graduated from the Taft School in Watertown in 1940 and Dartmouth College in 1943. During World War II he served with the U.S. Navy as gunnery officer in the Submarine Service and saw action in the Pacific as a navigator on the USS Seadragon.
Upon return to civilian life, Clark earned a business degree from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth. He then began a career in advertising in New York City, where he worked for several well-known firms, including Benton and Bowles, Scott Paper, Bowater Scott, and finally Needham, Harper, and Steers before retiring in 1978. In 1980 he was the campaign manager for James Buckley’s bid for the U.S. Senate from Connecticut.
Clark was always dedicated to social welfare-oriented volunteer work. He took a break from advertising in 1961 to work three years as financial manager and executive director for the Frank Laubach Literacy Fund in Washington D.C., a position that took him to various underserved parts of Africa and Asia to teach people to read and write in their own language.
After retiring he volunteered for many years on the board of Greenwich Hospital during a period of expansion. He also assisted in the hospital’s emergency room and was a loyal volunteer for the Greenwich Meals on Wheels program. In Greenwich he served on the RTM and was chairman of the RTM Cost Containment Committee.
After he moved to Essex in 2007, he continued his commitment to the community by volunteering in the emergency room of Middlesex Hospital’s Shoreline Clinic and Meals on Wheels, as well as serving on the finance committee and the resident’s council at Essex Meadows.
In Greenwich he was a trustee of the Round Hill Community Church and a member of the Round Hill Club. He also was a member of the Maidstone Club in East Hampton and the Yale Club in New York.
In 1961 he married Vallory Willis Shepard, who predeceased him. With the marriage he
instantly acquired four stepchildren, all of whom survive: Richard S.W. Shepard of
McLean, Virg.; Katherine S. Graham of East Hampton N.Y.; Frank P. Shepard III (Peter), of Harvard, Mass.; and Nathanial B. Shepard of Kensington; as well as seven grandchildren.
His sister Margaret (Pegret) Clark MacGruer predeceased him. Her children Duncan M. MacGruer of Atlanta, Ga., and Amanda M. Davis of Greenwich, survive.
He is also survived by his younger brother, Kenneth F. Clark Jr. of Memphis, Tenn., and his children: Kenneth F. Clark III of Raleigh, N.C., Ellen C. Moore of Winnetka, Ill., Ramsay Clark, Marshall A. Clark, and Allison Clark all of Memphis Tenn.
A memorial service will be held in April in Essex. In lieu of flowers the family has requested donations to the Round Hill Community Church, 395 Round Hill Road, Greenwich, CT. 06831, or Middlesex Hospital, 28 Crescent Street, Middletown, CT. 06457.
