Todd Clark

November 24, 1933 - March 22, 2023 Born November 24, 1933 in Meriden Connecticut. Todd's father C. Merle Clark was a Methodist minister and the family moved many times in California as his pastoral tenures changed. One of the most defining moments of Todd's young life was being taken by his father to witness the shipping off of many Japanese-American citizens to internment camp during World War II. The only non-Japanese-American people at the railroad station, Todd's father said he never wanted Todd to forget how shameful that moment was. Certainly that set the stage for Todd's lifetime career of civic and legal education and the many varied and highly successful community action projects he founded.
Todd received his Masters in Education from Fresno State University, and he was accepted into a Ph.D. program in education at the Claremont Colleges, where he did most of his doctorate work. From there Todd got a teaching credential, taught high school, and then was recruited to join the Constitutional Rights Foundation as Education Director, ultimately ascending to Executive Director. Todd had a long and fruitful career at the Constitutional Rights Foundation where he was known as a great leader, an innovator with a strong presence, deep knowledge, and compelling personality. He was an exceptional fundraiser as well, driving Constitutional Rights Foundation to a national and international presence. Among his many endeavors at CRF, he sponsored and promoted the publishing of the "Bill of Rights in Action", the Mock Trial project in California, History Day in California, a city-wide Internship program, and broke ground in the national field of Law Related Education and Service Learning. In those two fields alone, he was regarded as a founder and received many awards for his leadership, often being called a "giant" in the civic learning field and receiving the Isidore Starr Award for Special Achievement in Law Related Education from the American Bar Association. Todd was President of the California Council for the Social Studies, receiving the "Hilda Tabor Award" for outstanding contributions to the social studies, and went on to be elected as President of the National Council for Social Studies. Continuing his leadership role, he was appointed by two governors of the state of California to serve as member and chairman of the California Commission on Improving Life Through Service, receiving Commendations from the Governors for his work. He also served on the California State Curriculum Instruction Steering Committee and received an award for his service there for state and national Civic Education and History/Social Science Excellence.
A special project for Todd was his appointment by the President of the Ford Foundation to develop materials for high school students describing the apartheid situation in South Africa. Taking a three-week trip to see the situation personally and meeting many activists during the travels, he produced the first education curriculum in the U.S. on the tragic circumstances there for people of color which, at the time, were not widely known of nor discussed.
Todd was a voracious traveler. He traveled the world with many loved colleagues sponsored by programs such as Civitas International and Deliberating in a Democracy, meeting educators and public officials from throughout the world to promote cross-cultural exchanges in the service of developing international civic education.
In his last professional years, he founded a successful project in Montebello, California, bringing volunteers into the high schools of the area to help students prepare for college. He received the "Civic Legacy Award" from California Community Partners for that work.
A person with great vitality, Todd was also a natural chef, a superb cook and host, the dining room at Caribou Lane was always full of laughter, fantastic food and company. He was a vault of historical facts and knowledge, a voracious reader, and closely followed politics. His family cabin in the High Sierras was his special place where he could hike, backpack and recharge himself and his summers in Santa Fe were beloved to him feeding his great love of music and art.
Todd is survived by his wife and dearest best friend, Jama. Their 50-year-long relationship was their deepest comfort. He leaves three children, six grandchildren, and one great-grandchild and is also survived by his sister Mary and brother-in-law Bruce. Todd also leaves behind many wonderful educators whom he mentored, who continue his work to prepare students to be effective and responsible participants in democracy.