Sherman H. Clark

Sherman Humphrey Clark passed away peacefully on Friday, April 21, 2017, at his home in Palo Alto, CA, at the age of 93.

Sherman was born on February 8, 1924, in Portland, Oregon. His favorite childhood memory was playing baseball with his brother, Wally. Sherman would run twenty blocks to and from Bridge Middle School each day, and, apart from baseball, reading in the school library was his favorite pastime.

After a short career as a semi-pro baseball player dreaming of making the majors, Sherman applied to college. In spite of not knowing where Harvard was, he was accepted on a scholarship. At Harvard, Sherman joined the naval ROTC, and played on the varsity baseball team, where he hit .397 and played right field. While playing in college, he met and talked hitting with his idol, Ted Williams, who was nearby in Amherst, MA, training to be a navy pilot. In 1944, Sherman was sent to destroyer school and then off to WWII as an engineering officer.

Following the war, Sherman received his Master’s degree from Harvard, and went on to attend Stanford University to work on his Ph.D. After leaving Stanford, he took a position with Stanford Research Institute (SRI) as an energy economist. Having established his reputation in the industry, he began his own energy economics consulting firm, Sherman H. Clark and Associates, in 1970, and traveled the world building a successful business.

Sherman married Lorraine Oldaker in 1950, and they had three children: Anne, David, and Christopher. After fifty-three years of marriage, Lorraine passed away, and a year later, in 2004, Sherman married Barbara Smith. In his later years, Sherman loved reading, traveling the world with Barbara, San Francisco Giants baseball, and collecting fine Italian wines.

Sherman is survived by his widow, Barbara Rosberg Smith; daughter Anne Peterson; son Christopher Clark and his wife Kendall; granddaughters Grace Clark, Olivia Clark, Erin Peterson and Lindsay Peterson; grandsons Jack Clark and Will Clark; stepdaughter Jean Smith; and stepdaughter Nancy Norton, husband Joe Norton, and stepgranddaughter, Ava Norton.

A memorial service will be held at St. Clement’s Episcopal Church in Berkeley, CA, on May 14 at 2pm. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund, P.O. Box 44740, San Francisco, CA 94144.