Conrad Clark

Conrad Wilson Clark, 74, of Bronson, Fla., died Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2019, at home, after fighting cancer through the past summer and fall seasons.

Conrad was born Dec. 26, 1944, at Monongalia General Hospital in Morgantown, son of the late Thomas Gates Clark and Mildred Shortridge Clark. He first met his father in October 1945, following the surrender of Japan when his father returned from the Pacific Theater of World War II.

Back in Morgantown after many family moves across West Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Virginia. Conrad finally completed a school year without transferring in sixth grade at First Ward School. He graduated Morgantown High School in 1962. In high school, part-time employment was with his father’s forestry consulting business. His freshman year of college was at Case Western Reserve, where he was a member of Theta Chi Fraternity before continuing his college education at West Virginia University.

Conrad’s college career was interrupted by military service when he enlisted in the U. S. Army in 1966. He was a graduate of OCS, in Fort Benning, Ga., and achieved the rank of captain with a tour of duty in Vietnam and two tours of duty in South Korea at the DMZ with his honorable discharge in 1973.

He returned to West Virginia University in Morgantown to complete his B.S. in computer science in 1974. Following employment at WVU in the Computer Science Department, which he had been closely involved with during its inception, he was employed by Mellon Bank, in Pittsburgh, and since Muriel Akamatsu had joined him for that move away from Morgantown it seemed fair that when she found employment, in San Francisco, Calif., he changed his career path to find employment with IBM in San Francisco, where they resided, in Oakland, Calif.

During their years there when came to pass that the time seemed right for each of them they were married on Dec. 28, 1984. In 1993, as husband and wife, they took early retirement from their respective employers to relocate to a rural finca near Juncos, Puerto Rico. Early retirement did not suit Conrad, who found employment under the auspices of several government programs, he helped develop transitional systems overseas as a software engineer in Egypt, Poland, Latvia, Moldova and Russia, during which time he resided part-time in Alexandria, Va.

His truer retirement was with Muriel after they relocated their primary residence to a farm, in Bronson, Fla., where he continued to enjoy art, music, reading, silviculture, agriculture, target shooting and nature. He didn’t lay his career aside but continued to actively pursue computer science, building complex systems in his home workshop and experimenting with new languages at every level up to the time of his death.

In addition to his wife, Muriel List Akamatsu, Conrad is survived by his four brothers, Tim Clark (Rita Clark), of Garner, N.C., Alan Clark (Jane Clark), of Chalk Hill, Pa., Bruce Clark, of Morgantown, and Dan Clark (Liesl Grattan-King), of Pickering, Ontario, Canada, as well as seven nephews, two nieces, a great-nephew and a great-niece.

There will be no service. The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made in Conrad’s memory to a charity of your choice. The family realizes that some choices may, no doubt, have raised Conrad’s ire in life. Condolences can be sent c/o G. A. Clark, P.O. Box 408, Chalk Hill, PA 15421-0408.