Clark served for about 20 years as an elected Warren County Court judge and in 1990 was elected to the Warren County Common Pleas Court as juvenile and probate judge before he retired after three decades on the bench. He continued his career in private practice before retiring in 2013, according to his obituary.
“The main thing that I learned from Judge Clark was empathy and compassion,” said Judge Joe Kirby, who sits on the juvenile and probate bench formerly held by Clark. “He just had a way about him that you just couldn’t help but like him. He was warm, he was genuine. And he was very effective as a judge.”
Clark was actively involved in local and statewide professional judge and bar associations and served on numerous civic and advisory boards.
He was instrumental in replacing the historic but unsafe Mary Haven building with the modern Warren County Juvenile Detention Center that provides a safer and more supportive environment for juveniles in detention or in treatment.
Clark hired Kirby in 1996 fresh out of law school to work at the newly built detention center as a juvenile court referee, a position that has since been replaced by a magistrate with a requirement of at least four years experience as a lawyer.
“Within a few months of becoming a lawyer, and talk about having no credibility,” Kirby said. “I had a lot of people that I had to prove myself to and I wanted him not to regret his decision on somebody who was right out of law school or right off passing the bar.”
Kirby watched and learned and tried to emulate Clark, whose career path he has followed as a county court judge and then the probate juvenile judge. One thing he decided not to imitate involved the judge’s chambers with a private bathroom at the courthouse. Clark gave that space to his support staff and used a smaller antechamber as his office.
“That’s just a basic example of how he was,” Kirby said.
One remembrance Kirby said he will always have of Clark is his admission to the U.S. Supreme Court. Clark sponsored him, Kirby said, so “his name is up there right before mine” on the framed certificate that hangs on the wall in his chambers.
Clark earned a bachelor’s degree in art and history from Wilmington College and earned his law degree from the Salmon P. Chase College of Law.
He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Linda, four children, 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Visitation is noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Countryside Church of the Nazarene, 1436 Deerfield Road, Lebanon, followed by a celebration of life service at 2 p.m.
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