- Date Of Death: October 9, 2010
- State: Colorado
Thomas Dillard Clark, Jr., of Littleton, Colorado died last Saturday, October 9th, 2010 in Littleton Adventist Hospital of a sudden heart event at the age of 69.
Born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, February 12th, 1941, to Thomas Dillard Clark and Mary Imogene Collins, Tom was an outstanding leader, a scholar and educator of many; he received his Bachelor of Biological Sciences from Mercer University, MBA, from Arizona State University, and PhD from Florida State University.
From 1964 to 1984 he served in the United States Air Force and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.
Tom served as a Decision Analyst for the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force of U.S. and as the Functional Manager of the USAF Maintenance Management Information System prior to entering the field of education.
From 1977 to 1984 he was a distinguished Professor at the Air Force Institute of Technology where he served in the School of Engineering and was honored with the Gage Crocker Outstanding Professor award.
He was Chairman of Information and Management Sciences at Florida State University and Director of the Information Systems Research Center from 1984 to 1995.
From 1995 to 2003 he served as Dean of the E.J. Ourso College of Business Administration and the Ourso Distinguished Professor of Business. He also served as the Edward G. Schlieder Distinguished Chair of Information Science and Director of the DECIDE Board Room at Louisiana State University from 2003 to 2006.
As an active member of the business community, Tom was the President of Strategy Associates, a consulting firm specializing in strategy development, strategic planning assistance, corporate governance policy and corporate analysis. He was elected to the Board of Directors at Endeavour International Corporation in 2006 and served most recently as chairman of the company’s Nominating and Governance Committee, and as a member of the Technology and Reserves Committee. During this time he also served on the boards of several community organizations and two privately-held companies.
In recent days he spent much of his time sharing his joy of life with his most precious gifts – his family. A man of great faith, he taught us to say, “I love you!”, and cherish the moments we have together with our families.
He was an avid outdoor adventurist and enjoyed living in the bountiful and rugged environment of Colorado where he enjoyed hiking, cross-country skiing, fly fishing, and road biking. In addition to these past times, he spent some of his precious free time at 24-Hour Fitness where he adorned a large following of friends, admirers and fellow athletes, many of which he offered daily words of encouragement, or freely trained in pursuit of their own dreams.
Tom is survived by his steadfast and loving wife Mary; his adoring daughter Karen and her husband Steve and their two children Avery and Jordan; his adoring daughter Courtney, and her husband Alex and their child AJ; his dear sister Gayle Jennison; and a far extended network of loving family, colleagues and friends.
Thomas D Clark Scholarship Fund
Firstbank of South Jeffco
5125 S Kipling St
Littleton, CO 80127
Acct: # 3381261495
