Homer Clark

1918 - 2015

Homer H. Clark, well-known legal scholar, retired CU Law School faculty member, and beloved father, died on March 19, 2015 at his home in Boulder. He was one day short of his 97th birthday. Born in Chicago in 1918, Homer was raised in the Long Island suburbs of New York City. After high school he attended Amherst College and Harvard Law School. He married Jean Kramer in 1942, with whom he enjoyed a long and happy married life until her death in 2000. Homer served in the Navy during World War II and was posted to the Abner Reed, a destroyer, which sailed to the Aleutian Islands where the Japanese were active . Homer and Jean attended numerous reunions of the Abner Reed in later years. After the War, Homer served as a judicial clerk for Judge Peter Woodbury in the First Circuit, and for a short time he was in private law practice in New Haven, CT. Homer started his teaching career on the law faculty at the University of Montana. In 1953, Homer joined the University of Colorado law faculty where he was a major force in developing a first class law school. He brought high standards to the Colorado Law faculty and he helped to recruit and inspire first-rate faculty. He led by example and his strength of character and unrelenting commitment to excellence set the mark for the school. Homer is known by many as their favorite law professor. In the broader legal world, Homer is known for his expertise on domestic relations, corporations, and antitrust. He authored a nationally recognized treatise on domestic relations titled The Law of Domestic Relations and a companion casebook. Close friends and family will always remember Homer as an outdoorsman, whether on the Colorado ski trails in the winter or the hiking trails in summer. He was also known to "drown a Royal Wulff" in search of that 20 inch trout whenever he had the opportunity. He "taught" a lot of people to fly fish, including his son, by turning them loose on the stream and agreeing to meet for lunch later. Homer is survived by his children, Ann Clark, Sarah Clark, and Richard Clark and his granddaughter, Katie Clark. Memorial contributions may be made to the Clark Scholarship fund at the University of Colorado Law School. A Remembrance of Homer is planned for April 25, 2015, at 2 p.m. at the Wittemyer Court Room in the Wolf Law Building at the University of Colorado. All are welcome.