Re: Jerry Clack

I remember Jerry fondly.  We worked together on the NJ Classical
Association over many years.  A DELIGHTFUL MAN!.  Dave Kelly

On Sun, Apr 21, 2019 at 1:57 PM DANIEL P. Tompkins <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> He did a lot of good work.  Sorry to learn this news.
>
> Dan
>
> On Sun, Apr 21, 2019 at 1:48 PM Thomas Scanlon <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> > I was very sad to learn of the recent passing of Jerry Clack, my
> > undergraduate mento at Duquesne University and friend for over 50 years
> > since. He fit 4 or 5 lives into 1. Here is the obituary from today's
> > Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
> >
> > Atque in perpetuum, frāter, avē atque valē.
> >
> > JERRY CLACK
> >
> > Classics professor, opera lover and old-world gentleman
> >
> > July 22, 1926 - April 15, 2019
> >
> > BY ROBERT CROAN PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
> > In a career that lasted over 70 years, Jerry Clack wore many hats.
> >
> > From a youthful stint at the Swedish Legation in Washington and four years
> > with UNESCO, to public relations and accounting positions with AAA,
> > Coca-Cola and the American Heart Association, he went on to assume
> > directorship of Allegheny County’s chapter of The March of Dimes in 1953.
> > His 15-year tenure with March of Dimes saw the development of two
> > anti-polio vaccines, that of Jonas Salk at the University of Pittsburgh and
> > Albert Sabin’s oral vaccine.
> >
> > But it was in the world of academics that Mr. Clack was widely known,
> > especially in the instruction of the Classics.
> >
> > Mr. Clack died Monday at Shadyside Hospital due to heart failure. He was
> > 92.
> >
> > The son of Mildred Taylor Van Dyke of Pittsburgh and Christopher Thrower
> > Clack of Boydton, Va., Mr. Clack was born in New York City on July 22,
> > 1926. Because his father was a foreign representative of the
> > Pittsburgh-based Blaw-Knox Co., he spent his early years in Europe, mostly
> > in London and Dusseldorf. After his father’s death, he returned with his
> > mother to Pittsburgh, attending the Fulton School and Peabody High School.
> >
> > Upon gaining admission to Princeton University, where he received an
> > undergraduate degree in Classics in 1946, he pursued graduate work at the
> > University of Pittsburgh, earning a Ph.D. in Classics in 1962. In 1968, Mr.
> > Clack was appointed professor of Classic Languages at Duquesne University,
> > chairing the Classics Department from 1973-75 and again from 1980-83.
> > Referring to his Latin class at Duquesne, one student posted on
> > ratemyprofessors.com: “Take him, he makes his classes short and funny.”
> >
> > Mr. Clack’s sense of humor endeared him to his friends and family. “He was
> > one of those people with a wicked sense of humor, sometimes a little
> > black,” said Mark Mazur, a mathematics professor at Duquesne and close
> > friend of Mr. Clack’s. “He was very clever, plays on words and so forth.
> > That was his trademark.”
> >
> > He also published widely in the field. In addition to scholarly articles,
> > he produced four textbooks on the subject of Hellenistic poetry and
> > epigrams. He won numerous awards for his scholarly research, but his first
> > love was opera — first and foremost the operas of Wagner and Richard
> > Strauss. He made annual visits to the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany,
> > called himself an opera fanatic and prided himself on a record collection
> > that included at least one version of every opera available on CD, tape or
> > DVD.
> >
> > After his retirement from Duquesne in 2011, Mr. Clack pursued his lifelong
> > interest in opera by becoming a board member of what is now Pittsburgh
> > Festival Opera, this city’s smaller but highly active opera company.
> > Eventually elected chairman of the board, Mr. Clack created and underwrote
> > an annual Richard Strauss festival, which began with a revival of “Ariadne
> > auf Naxos” in 2014. The Strauss Festival has produced local premieres of
> > neglected or unfamiliar works by his favorite composer every year since.
> >
> > “As chairman of the board meetings, he would open the meetings not with a
> > tedious discussion of the budget or programming but by giving us a little
> > lecture on some arcane portion of the operatic repertoire,” said Jonathan
> > Eaton, artistic director of Pittsburgh Festival Opera. “Some might look at
> > him and think of him as an eccentric, but he wasn’t. He was very
> > passionate, and he wasn’t afraid of his passions.”
> >
> > In 2017, Mr. Clack put up money for a matching grant that would fund a
> > revival of Festival Opera’s mini-version of Wagner’s “Ring” Cycle, created
> > for the company by British composer Jonathan Dove 10 years earlier. This
> > revival began in 2018 with “Der Ring des Nibelungen” and will continue with
> > one opera each summer and culminate with the entire four-opera cycle in
> > 2021.
> >
> > “He was an unusual man,” said Mildred Miller Posvar, 94, co-founder of
> > Festival Opera and a former Metropolitan Opera star. “He was wonderful,
> > with his dry wit and his lectures at the board meetings. It’s a great loss.”
> >
> > Mr. Clack was also a political activist for liberal causes that included,
> > among others, Citizens for Global Solution and the Pennsylvania Chapter of
> > the ACLU. He is survived by his husband, Julian Gil, who lives in Shadyside.
> >
> > Mr. Clack wished that his epitaph be a farewell used by actors in Roman
> > comedies:
> > Nunc, spectatores, valete et nobis clare plaudite. Now, spectators, fare
> > you well, and give us loud applause.
> >
> > Robert Croan is a Post-Gazette senior editor. Staff writer Jeremy Reynolds
> > contributed.
> >