John Edgar Clarke
John Edgar Clarke
1922 – 2021
John E. Clarke, son, brother, husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, passed away peacefully January 13, 2021 at the Orem Nursing and Rehab center. He was born July 15, 1922 in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.
John was born to J. Edgar Clarke and Caroline Catherine Wilson, and grew up with his half-sister Mary Bunita Markley, in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois. After graduating from Hyde Park High in Chicago, he attended the University of Illinois at Champaign. While there, in his freshman year, World War II began and the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He enlisted in the US Army in 1943 and served in Japan, arriving just after the war ended, in August, 1945. After the war he finished his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism at the University of Illinois, and began working as an account executive in a small advertising agency in Chicago. There he met Jeanne Lundberg, who he married on July 15, 1948. They soon welcomed their oldest daughter, Karen, followed by another daughter, Susan, and a son, Matthew. In 1958, the family moved to Westport, Connecticut, where John worked in product marketing at General Electric corporate headquarters, and then in New York City for an advertising agency where he became a senior Vice President.
Following his work in New York City, he started his own company in Connecticut, where he marketed bath products, garden products, and where he directed TV productions for PBS and directed his own independent film. He also wrote a novel.
He was gifted at creative ideas, and rose from a small town in Wisconsin to the very peak of business in one of the most competitive environments on earth, New York City advertising. He was very personable and engaged easily with other people, often cracking a joke or making a funny comment that would put people at ease.
John was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Jeanne Lundberg Clarke; daughter, Susan DeVincent; granddaughters, Sarah Smith and Lindsay Hammond; and sister, Mary Markley. John is survived by his children, Karen Clarke and Matthew Clarke; son-in-law, Wayne DeVincent; and by his grandchildren: Katherine (Dan) Moss, Adam (Brittany) DeVincent, Paul (Margy) DeVincent, Robert Stephen (Elyse) DeVincent, Kristen (Ryan) Clarke Kellems, David (Cindi) Clarke, Jennifer (Mauricio) Choque; 23 great-grandchildren, and other loving extended family and friends.
Dad, you brightened our world with your colorful personality and your sense of humor. Thank you for your ever-present joie de vivre. Thank you for the legacy of creativity you have left behind. You will be greatly missed by your family and friends, and will be thought of often until we meet again.
A private celebration of John’s life was held. Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.bergmortuary.com.