Jim, aged 59, passed away at home with his family by his side on Wednesday, May 28, 2003. Jim will be sadly missed by his loving wife and best friend Pat nee Jones.
Loving and devoted father of Jason, Mandy, and Shillane Labbett Simon. Beloved son of the late Robert and Thea Clark. Fondly remembered by sister Anne Louise Barratt of Vancouver and brother Robert and his wife Myrna. Also survived by many nieces and nephews. Predeceased by sister Ida Mae Ross.
Jim served his community in many capacities as President of the Kingston Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of the Police Services Board and Alderman of The City of Kingston.
I am very pleased to include a remembrance of Jim Clark – teacher and trainer, politician, entrepreneur, and fun colleague at SLC.
Jim started his teaching career with conviction, giving courses to inmates in the Collins Bay Pen. He continued as a teacher in the Human Studies Department and was very active in providing a variety of training courses along with John Mason, and Ross Hermiston. Jim was also very active in politics, including serving one term on the Kingston city council. I remember working with him on a campaign (successful) to elect former Kingston alderman Keith Norton to the Ontario Legislature.
One especially memorable evening my wife and I sat in Jim’s house, with Keith Norton, John Clements (and probably a few others) and talked about politics.
Jim left St. Lawrence in 1991 to join with his brother Bob in establishing the St. Lawrence Cruise Line, which continues to provide most enjoyable cruises on the Canadian Empress. Sadly, Jim’s life was cut short by cancer and we lost him at far too young an age.
Two other SLC colleagues submitted memories of Jim Clark and they are included below.
The submission from Marilynn Yeates, who is our most distant member and one of our most active participants, confirms Jim’s political interest and skill. She writes:
Jim was an incredibly supportive office mate in Kingston (and in Southeast Asia) and an excellent Professor, giving his time to listen to and help students. He was also a great (crazy?) politician for me. When asked to run for provincial office for the Canadian Child Care Federation, I said "no". Overhearing the conversation, Jim said "yes, and I'm going to be your campaign manager. You'll send every voting member (over 600 of them) a short letter” (he was already writing it) “and include a TEA BAG for them to make a HOT cup of tea to drink while they read the letter, because it's February and freezing all over this Province.” I won!
Bill Kirby’s submission was as follows: In the Human Studies Department Jim was known for his sense of humour. Any presentations he did were filled with wit and laughter as well as valuable content. He was supportive of his colleagues and popular amongst his students. Many of those students volunteered to knock on doors when he made his first run for city council and that certainly helped him as he won with the largest majority of any in that election.
I recall Jim sharing his amazement after visiting the Kingston office of then MP Flora McDonald. He described how he had seen a machine into which you inserted a piece of paper and within minutes that same information could be transferred to Ottawa! A fax machine was certainly new age in 1975!