Jacques L Clarke

Jacques (Jack) Clarke passed away Monday, August 30, 2021, at the age of 99. He and his family moved to Miami in 1926 from Beatrice, Nebraska; he graduated from Ponce de Leon Senior High and received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida. He was a WWII veteran, having fought in in the trenches of the Ardennes; he later volunteered for the Veterans of the Foreign Wars for many years. Among his other hobbies and service activities were: ham radio operation, being a band-leader, boatbuilding, leadership in the Power Squadron, Boy Scout Leader, Khoury League Baseball Coach and Commissioner, playing the electric organ, collecting WWII Army division patches and medals, and vacationing with his beloved wife. Jack designed some of the iconic structures of (old) Miami both as part of his own firm, Oboler and Clarke, and for Ferendino Grafton Spillis and Candela (later Spillis Candela and Partners), from which he retired in 2001; among those are: the Ainsley Building, the Fontainebleau Hotel, the Americana, the Space-Transit Planetarium at the Museum of Science, and the Miami-Dade College campuses. He was instrumental in the writing of the original South Florida Building Code in 1956, and was internationally renowned in his field.
He is predeceased by his wife, Patricia Daly Clarke and two children, Christopher Clarke and Marie (Mitzi) Treadway. He is survived by three children, Lundy Clarke, Patricia Valois (Ned) and Charles Clarke (Stan Brantley), five grandchildren and six great grandchildren. Jack himself was the second eldest of four brothers, and found himself needing to help support his family after the death of his own father, when Jack was 14 years old. He remained dedicated to his family for his entire life, as a devoted son, brother, husband, son-in-law, father, uncle, grandfather and great-grandfather. He often provided shelter to his loved ones, as well as to his children’s friends, if they found themselves in need. He was a warm, intelligent, funny, friendly, hard-working, and generous man who was beloved by his family and friends, and who was respected and admired in the community and as a colleague and mentor in his field.
There will be a visitation Sunday, September 12, from 2 – 4 PM at Stanfill Funeral Home, 10545 S. Dixie Highway, Miami, Florida 33156.
A private interment with a Military Color Guard will be at held at the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth, Florida.