Hugh Clark, a newspaper editor and reporter on the Big Island for almost 40 years, died Thursday of cancer at Hospice of Hilo’s Pohai Malama Facility. He was 75.
Clark was born in Santa Rosa, Calif., and worked at newspapers in Idaho, California, Texas and Nevada before becoming the Hawaii Tribune-Herald’s news editor in 1966.
After his dismissal following a dispute with management in 1971, he became the Big Island bureau chief of the former Honolulu Advertiser, retiring in 2002.
Retired Tribune-Herald Editor Gene Tao, who was hired as a reporter by Clark in 1967, remembers him as an old-school journalist who “covered the news very, very aggressively.”
“In those days, we were an afternoon paper, and mornings were like rush hour, everybody pounding the typewriter like mad,” he said. “There were no computers back then. … Hugh typed with two fingers, and he typed very fast.”
Before the Internet, people statewide turned to Clark’s stories about the Big Island, its government and people. His coverage of organized crime and the destructive path of lava from Kilauea volcano was a must-read for thousands.
Tao said Clark, who helped found the Big Island Press Club in 1967, also fought to make government more accountable to the public.
Clark’s wife of 27 years, Anne Uma Clark, said he was a voracious reader as well as a writer.
“He would read a newspaper while he was taking a shower,” she said. “That’s what you call commitment.”
Clark also covered University of Hawaii at Hilo Vulcan sports, leading to his 2004 induction into the UH-Hilo Athletic Hall of Fame. He also was on the selection committee of the Nissan Hall of Honor, a statewide high school sports recognition program, for 32 years.
Retired Tribune-Herald Sports Editor Bill O’Rear, a former Vulcan basketball star and fellow UH-Hilo Hall of Famer, said Clark “leaves behind a proud legacy.”
“Hugh was a mentor for many young Big Island journalists over the years, blessed with a keen news sense, a sharp wit and a determination to work tirelessly to get the news and sports out to his Big Island readers,” O’Rear wrote on Facebook.
A former smoker, Clark was a longtime volunteer for the local American Lung Association and served on its national board of directors.
Clark, his wife, and their daughter, Sandhya, traveled the world, seeing about 30 countries together.
“He retired a little earlier than he had planned,” Anne Clark said. “And that was so he could spend that precious time with Sandhya.”
Visitation is 4 to 5 p.m. June 19 at Dodo Mortuary chapel with services at 5 p.m.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Clark survived by a brother, Tom Clark, and sister, Joan Sinclair, both of California.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
