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Bishop,
diocese will recognize legal advisor’s 35 years of service
BY RUTH NICASTRO
When
Bishop J. Jon Bruno brings down the gavel to open the Convention of the
Diocese of Los Angeles on Dec. 6, sitting to his left at the podium will be
R. Bradbury Clark in the seat he has occupied at every Convention since 1967
when he was first appointed Chancellor of the Diocese.
Clark was appointed by
then-Bishop F. Eric Bloy, and has since served four bishops of Los Angeles:
Bloy, the late Robert C. Rusack, Frederick H. Borsch, and now Bruno. Year
after year he has brought his acclaimed knowledge and experience of the law
to advise the bishops on matters concerning property, taxation, insurance,
finance and countless other matters.
In honoring Clark at this
year’s Convention dinner, Bishop Bruno will carefully and happily note that
Clark’s work as Chancellor will continue, reiterating that he is not
retiring from his post at this time.
At the time of his
appointment as Chancellor, Clark had served in the capacity of a
vice-chancellor under the leadership of Col. Merton A. Albee, Chancellor
from 1933 to 1967. Previous Chancellors were the Hon. F. C. Valentine
(1912-33) and Henry T. Lee (1895-1912).
As Chancellor, Clark has
thoroughly researched the national canons of the Episcopal Church as well as
those of this diocese, becoming one of the acknowledged experts on the
church’s canon law. He is widely sought as an interpreter of that law, both
in this diocese and beyond, and the one to sort out the complexities
whenever canon law collides, or appears to collide, with city, county, state
or national law.
For many years Clark has
also served as a Director of the Corporation of the Diocese where again his
advice has been invaluable as an expert on corporate as well as canon law.
Clark has been involved in the Corporations Department of O’Melveny and
Myers since he first entered the firm in 1952. He chaired the firm’s
Corporations Department for several years and has also served on its
Management Committee. He has chaired the Corporations Committee of the
California State Bar Association and also been a member of the executive
committee of the bar’s Business Law Section, and has been active as well in
the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section. And he is the editor of
the seven-volume California Corporation Laws.
In 1981 Clark was named an
Honorary Canon of the Diocese by then-Bishop Rusack. In his citation at the
time Rusack referred not only to Clark’s service to the diocese but also to
his parish. Clark was for many years a vestryman and later senior warden of
St. James’ Parish in South Pasadena. For the past 22 years he has been a
member of St. Edmund’s, San Marino.
In recognition of his legal
service not only to the Diocese of Los Angeles but to the entire State of
California, Clark was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane
Letters by Church Divinity School of the Pacific in 1983.
Born in Iowa, Clark has
lived most of his life in Southern California and graduated from Los Angeles
High School in 1942. In high school he was not only involved in both
football and water polo but was also an excellent student, receiving a
Harvard College National Scholarship. He entered Harvard in June 1942, but
his college years were interrupted by World War II. He enlisted in the army
as a private in February 1943, was soon promoted to corporal, and then sent
to Officer Candidate School where he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant.
He was sent to the European Theater of Operations where he received a
battlefield promotion to First Lieutenant, was twice wounded, and received
the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster and also the Bronze Star Medal twice.
Discharged with the rank of
Captain in 1946 he reentered Harvard, from which he was graduated magna cum
laude in 1951. He continued to hold his Harvard College National Scholarship
through law school, and was elected to the board of the Law Review during
his third year.
Immediately following his
graduation Clark entered the O’Melveny & Myers firm, but after three months
was granted a leave of absence to attend Oxford University, where he
continued his law studies on a Fulbright Fellowship. He returned to the firm
a year later and has been there ever since. He became a partner in 1962 and
is currently of counsel to the firm.
Clark and the former Polly
Ann King were married in 1949. Over the years both have been active in the
Episcopal Church and have been avid supporters of UCLA basketball and other
sports. In recent years they have done a good deal of cruise-ship traveling
throughout the world.
The Clarks’ two adult
sons—Rufus Bradbury, Jr., and John Atherton—live in Southern California.
Their daughter, Cynthia Ann, died Nov. 19 after a long illness. |
