Longtime Point Reyes Station resident Barney Clark,
a retired newsman and advertising writer whose passion for sports cars
fueled a series of Corvette ads in the 1950s that attracted national
acclaim, died at home Thursday, Oct. 6, of congestive heart failure.
He was 92.
While Mr. Clark got into the automobile advertising
business through a lifetime interest in cars, he qualified as a skillful
and persuasive writer through a preliminary career in newspaper writing
and editing, first with the Eugene Register-Guard, then with the Oregon
Journal in Portland, and after that with the Associated Press in San
Francisco.
Later, at the San Francisco Chronicle, he edited the
Leisure section and contributed to the automobile section, but shifted
gears when asked to take over a publication called Auto Sport Review.
His stint at the magazine was to be a pit stop on his way to a job at
Campbell Ewald, the Detroit advertising agency, which handled the Chevrolet
account.
Auto ads won national award
His Corvette ads, with a theme dubbed "Child of the
Magnificent Ghost," won him a national award. He also persuaded Corvette
to put its cars into automobile racing for the first time in the company’s
history.
Mr. Clark later changed agencies – and allegiances
– and moved with his family to New York to work at the J. Walter
Thompson agency, which handled the Ford account. After suffering a heart
attack he quit and moved back to Mill Valley. In 1973 he moved to Point
Reyes Station.
Born in Portland, Oregon on Aug. 7, 1913, as a child
Arthur Bernard Clark struggled with a deformed hip, which was corrected
by surgery only when he was well into his 60s. Despite his handicap,
young Barney's parents pushed him to learn to ski. By age 12 he was
driving a car.
Loved food, wine
In 1933 he graduated from the University of Oregon
with a degree in journalism. In his sophomore year he was named editor
of the Oregonian, the school newspaper.
After a whirlwind romance, in 1943 he married his
first wife, Peggy Hill, a beauty queen from the University of Texas.
The couple had been married 47 years at the time of her death in 1990.
Some years after her death he married Shirley Stack,
a longtime family friend who had been widowed.
Small in stature but big in presence, and as irascible
as he was charming, Mr. Clark enjoyed good food, wine and conversation.
He cooked for the praise he received from his dining audience and once
shared with The Light a recipe for a dish he learned to prepare
while he and his family lived in Switzerland for a year – lapin
rotî, or roast rabbit.
Ladies man
A ladies man who enjoyed teasing the girls at the
bank, "he mooned and flirted with women," said his daughter Candace
Clark.
Also a believer in fairness, he hated bullies and
taught his daughters to defend the underdog. While his three daughters
were growing up, if there were a dispute over food portions at the table,
Mr. Clark brought out a scale to rectify the situation, his daughter
Megan Clark said.
Mr. Clark loved cars to the end and owned a series
of MGs, Fiats and Citroens. His last car, however, was sensible and
unglamorous, an early Toyota Camry. No matter what vehicle he drove,
he turned it into a sports car and was known to drag race from stop
signs even in a station wagon with his family on board.
He is survived by his wife, Shirley Clark of Point
Reyes Station; daughters, Candace Clark and Megan Clark, both of San
Rafael; daughter Penelope Clark of Fairfax; and three grandsons.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday,
October 30, at the Dance Palace.
Family members have suggested that any memorial contributions
be made to the Salvation Army.