John T. Clark ('52)

New Brunswick-based community leader and entrepreneur John T. Clark ('52, DCL ’10) and his family have been a part of Acadia University for generations.

Clark’s grandfather, William George Clark, a Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, served on Acadia’s Board of Governors for many years. He and his wife, Harriet Hannah Richardson Clark, both received honorary degrees from Acadia. Clark’s aunt, Esther Clark Wright, graduated in 1916, and a family gift helped to establish the Esther Clark Wright Archives in the Acadia library. His father, Alden Wright, graduated in 1924 and was one of the first inductees into the Acadia Sports Hall of Fame. Clark’s sister Nancy (’59) is also an Acadia graduate, as are his two sons, John (’78) and Jim (’83).

“I arrived at Acadia in the fall of 1948 after graduating from high school in New Brunswick. We were at the end of the veterans arriving. It was an interesting mix of so-called young people and older guys, so we learned a lot in a short time.

“The education at Acadia is fine, but it’s secondary to the friendships you make. For me, that’s what it’s all about. That’s where I learned how to get along with people in life. I think if you went to a larger place you wouldn’t come away with these friendships, which we maintained. I was a friend of Connie MacNeil’s for 62 years. He graduated in ’53 and his wife Mert in ’52. I traveled to Wolfville for his memorial service (in 2013) with Arthur Irving (’52), who was also a close friend of his.

“At first I was in a residence called Westwood House and then in Barrax. I roomed with (former New Brunswick Premier) Dick Hatfield (’52) for my final three years. Dick was from Hartland, New Brunswick, but I had never met him before. So here I was with a staunch Tory and, of course, our family has always been Liberal. We struck up a good friendship and when you tell people that story, they kind of raise their eyebrows. I say it was like opposites because I played sports and studied and he did none of that – he was in the drama group so he’d sleep in and I’d be gone and then, when I was already in bed, asleep at midnight, he would come home. But we got along fine.

“I grew up with this kind of aura about Acadia. We were living in Fredericton and dad was running the business. UNB was within walking distance down the street, but I still went to Acadia. My sister Nancy also went. Our two boys both went: John, who is a GM dealer in Fredericton and Jimmy, who is the Toyota dealer. I suppose the Acadia family tradition goes all the way back to my grandfather, W.G. Clark, who was mayor of Fredericton, an MP, and then Lieutenant-Governor. When you go into Barrax, there’s a plaque there that has W.G.’s name on it because he was on the Board of Governors and was one of the supporters of building it after the war. Their daughter, my aunt, is Esther Clark Wright. Alden, my father, graduated in 1924 and played everything, including hockey basketball, baseball, and track.

“When dad was still with us he loved to go back to Acadia for reunions and he would always go to Acadia functions in Florida. He established two scholarships: one has an athletic direction, the other a business education focus. When Connie died, I decided we should expand on that, so we set up a scholarship in his name.

“Clark Commons was the result of talks with Harvey Gilmour (’66). Harvey said that there were these three residences, two of which were new, and it would be nice to have a common area as well, so we funded that.”