John J. Clarke Ph.D.

John J. Clarke, professor emeritus of communication at the University of Scranton, died Friday, Aug. 28, at First Community Village in Columbus, Ohio. He and his wife, the former Ruth F. Cunningham of Wilkes-Barre, observed their 58th wedding anniversary last year.

Dr. Clarke, who taught the university's print media courses from 1986 to 1995, was also a professor emeritus of journalism at the Ohio State University, where he was a faculty member from 1967 to 1986. Earlier, he had been a reporter, copy editor and news editor for The Scranton Times for a dozen years, while also teaching graduate and undergraduate English courses at the University of Scranton and Marywood College. His career interests centered on literature and journalism. At Ohio State for years he taught a graduate course on their relationships.

He was a former president of Newspaper Guild Scranton Local 177. In the 1990s, he was writing and editing coach for the Times.

In 1986, the National Society of Professional Journalists named him that year's distinguished journalism professor. While a reporter for the Providence, R.I., Journal in the 1950s, he was a member of a reporting team whose coverage of a bank robbery and siege won for that newspaper a Pulitzer Prize for deadline news reporting.

A resident of South Abington Twp. and familiarly known as "Don," he was born in Wilkes-Barre April 22, 1925, a son of the late John P. and Gertrude Flaherty Clarke. His grandparents were Irish immigrants, and in 1994 dual citizenship was given to Dr. Clarke by the Republic of Ireland.

After graduating in 1942 from GAR High School in Wilkes-Barre, he began his long association with the University of Scranton. "I arrived with the Jesuits," he would say - that fall the Jesuits started teaching there, succeeding the Christian Brothers.

During World War II, he was in the Army from 1943 to 1946, serving on the hospital ship Wisteria as it transported wounded U.S. soldiers and German prisoners of war between European and American ports. He also had extensive duty on hospital trains in the United States, taking the injured to facilities throughout the country.

Resuming studies at Scranton after the war, he graduated in 1948 and later earned master's degrees in English from Fordham University, and in journalism from Columbia University. In 1957, he received a doctorate in English and American literature from Brown University. Editing was his special teaching area, and in the early 1970s at Ohio State, Dr. Clarke pioneered the use of computers in journalism instruction.

For 22 years, he directed summer intern programs for the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, supervising collegians from across the nation as they worked on newspaper copy desks in cities throughout America.

He was preceded in death by a sister, Dr. Mary Clarke Santopolo. In addition to his wife, he is survived by three daughters, Mary Ruth, Chicago; Johannah, Columbus, Ohio, her husband, Steven P. Wood, and their two children, Erin and Brian; and Colleen, Bethlehem, her husband, Philip F. Michels, and their four children, Brigid, Kevin, Aidan and Deidre.

The funeral will be held at St. Andrew Church in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, Sept. 2, at 10 a.m. Viewing will be held at 9 in the vestibule of St. Andrew Church. The burial will follow at St. Mary's Cemetery, Hanover Twp.

Memorial contributions may be made to the University of Scranton Development Fund.