Francis J. "Pete" Clark

Francis J. "Pete" Clark

AGE: 86 • formerly of New Brunswick

Francis J. "Pete" Clark, formerly of New Brunswick and Milltown, N.J., passed away on Saturday evening, May 26, 2012 at the McCarrick Care Center in Somerset. He was 86. He was born in New Brunswick on October 13, 1925 to Thomas M. and Rose (Dowgin) Clark. He was the owner and vice-president of The Brunswick Rubber Company, Deans, New Jersey from 1969 until his retirement in 1987. He was a long-time New Brunswick resident, moving to Manchester Township in 1987 and retiring in Milltown in 1991 to be closer to his family. He moved to the McCarrick Care Center in 2008. He was a graduate of the Saint Peters Schools in New Brunswick and received a bachelor's degree in English from Mount Saint Mary's College (now University) in Emmitsburg, Md. Drafted by the U.S. Army in college in 1946, Pete served his country for three years in World War II as a medic, stationed in Germany and France. A talented and gifted sportsman, Pete played basketball, baseball and football throughout elementary and high school and college. He also played on various American teams during war-time, and was awarded such distinctions as Player of the Year and Most Valuable Player, competing with fellow service men from all over the United States and abroad. He married Pauline Ann Mazellan, of Berdines Corner, North Brunswick on May 9, 1953 at Saint Peter's Roman Catholic Church in New Brunswick. Pauline, his loving and devoted wife for more than 50 years passed away on Dec. 17, 2007. He was a member of the Mount Saint Mary's University Sports Hall of Fame for basketball and the Saint Peters Schools Sports Hall of Fame, for all around sports excellence and volunteerism. He coached various teams in the Saint Peter's Schools community, including elementary school basketball and coached several championship teams in the Greater Middlesex Athletic Conference. He was a communicant of Saint Peters Church for many years, and an early member of the Cedar Hill Swim Club in Somerset. Pete was a talented businessman who worked hard his entire life to give his family a wonderful legacy of respect for others, honesty, compassion and good humor. He enjoyed spending time with his family, taking a stroll along the boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach with his wife, a refreshing dip in the pool at Cedar Hill, a thick steak at the Clinton House or Rod's Tavern, or talking with his buddies on the benches at the baseball diamond in Buccleuch Park in New Brunswick. He was a dedicated and loving husband, father and friend and will be missed by all. "Pete" was quite a guy and his life was admirable.

He was predeceased by his parents; wife, Pauline; sister, Mary Catherine Clark and brother, Thomas Clark. His infant son, Douglas Michael, passed away at four months in 1956. Pete is survived by five children, Joseph Francis "Pete, Jr." and his wife Terry, Carol Montferrat and her husband Fred, Barbara Stolte and her husband Matt, Paul and his wife Lenore, and Thomas. Also surviving are twelve grandchildren, Peter and Katie Clark, Patty Clark Battisti and her husband John, Daniel, Connor and Cara Montferrat, Matthew, Ryan and Thomas Stolte, and Bridget, Tara and Patrick Clark. He is also survived by his twin sister, Margaret Smith of the McCarrick Care Center in Somerset, formerly of Milltown, and many nieces and nephews and grand-nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will take place at 9:30am on Thursday, May 31 at the Boylan Funeral Home, 188 Easton Avenue in New Brunswick, followed by a Mass at St. Peter's R.C. Church in New Brunswick at 10:00 a.m. Interment will be in Resurrection Cemetery in Piscataway. Relatives and friends may visit the funeral home today from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that relatives and friends make a donation to the Milltown Rescue Squad, North Main Street, Milltown, NJ 08850.