Larry Denman Clarke (June 12, 1925 – October 22, 2015) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

businessman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

and the founder, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of

SPAR Aerospace SPAR Aerospace was a Canadian aerospace company. It produced equipment for the Canadian Space Agency to be used in cooperation with NASA's Space Shuttle program, most notably the Canadarm, a remote manipulator system. The company went through a s ...

Limited, the designer of the Canadarm. He is a founding Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and from 1987 to 1991, was the

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

Biography

Clarke was born in London to Edward Denman Clarke and Audrey Rant in 1925 and moved to Canada in 1939 after attending

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

. After graduating from Trinity College School and serving as a Technician in the Royal Canadian Navy during the second world war, he earned a law degree from

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the ''Journal of Law and Social Policy'', and the ''Osgoode Hall Law Journal ...

in 1949. He later worked in the Canadian Department of Defense and at de Havilland Aircraft before founding

and leading its acquisition from de Havilland in 1967. In 1988, Clarke was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

, and in 2004 he was awarded the

Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; ) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The President of the Canadian Space Agency, president is Lisa Campbell (civil servant), Lisa Campbell, who took ...

's Chapman Award for 2004 for "his remarkable contribution to the advancement of the Canadian Space Program". Clarke died on October 22, 2015, in

West Vancouver West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, West Vancouver is situated on the north shore of Burrard Inlet to the northwest of the city ...

References

1925 births 2015 deaths Canadian businesspeople Chancellors of York University Officers of the Order of Canada Osgoode Hall Law School alumni Canadian lawyers People educated at Eton College {{canada-business-bio-stub