R. Bradbury CLARK

CLARK, R. Bradbury Born May 11, 1924, in Des Moines, Iowa; died peacefully on July 13, 2011, in South Pasadena, Calif., at age 87. Mr. Clark is survived by his wife of 63 years, Polly Ann King Clark of South Pasadena, and their sons, Rufus Bradbury, Jr. (Laura), of Lancaster, Calif., and John of Santa Monica, and three grandsons. A daughter, Cynthia Clark Maxwell, died in 2002. A memorial service is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 21, at St. James' Episcopal Church, 1325 Monterey Road, South Pasadena, where the Clarks have been longtime members. Mr. Clark was of counsel to the O'Melveny & Myers law firm of Los Angeles, of which he was a retired senior partner. Until his death, he kept regular office hours to consult with other attorneys and to continue his work as editor of "Ballantine & Sterling: California Corporation Laws."
Mr. Clark was also chancellor emeritus and an honorary canon of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, having served four bishops since 1967. He was a 1942 graduate of Los Angeles High School, where he was a top scholar and played varsity water polo and football. Mr. Clark entered Harvard University but soon enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army, advancing quickly to the rank of corporal. After attending officer candidate school, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and sent to Europe where he was in charge of a heavy weapons machine gun platoon. He received a battlefield promotion to first lieutenant, and was decorated several times, including a Purple Heart with Oakleaf Cluster and twice with the Bronze Star Medal. By the end of World War II, he had attained the rank of captain. Returning to Harvard, Mr. Clark graduated magna cum laude in June 1948. He entered Harvard Law School, where he was elected to the board of the Harvard Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude in 1951 and joined the O'Melveny law firm, but soon took a year's leave of absence to study on a Fulbright scholarship at Oxford University's Magdalen College, earning a diploma in law. In October 1952 he returned to O'Melveny, becoming a partner in 1962. To his work for the firm's Transactions Department, Mr. Clark brought extensive experience in banking, real estate, securities, public utility, business and nonprofit corporations, partnerships, leasing and other financing matters. He handled a number of nuclear fuel, plant construction, inventory, cogeneration, building financing, and similar matters, including leveraged leases of oil tankers and other significant vessels. Mr. Clark was a director on several corporate boards and an active member of the Los Angeles Bar Association, serving on several of its committees. He was the primary author of the California Nonprofit Corporation Law, which codified and updated the many rules and regulations affecting the organization and operation of charitable and religious organizations and non-profit foundations and corporations in the state. The family suggests that memorial gifts be made, in lieu of flowers, to the John Tracy Clinic, 806 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90007-2505, or to the American Cancer Society. Arrangements, Cabot & Sons, Pasadena.