Haile Selassie Clay

Haile Selassie Clay, the seventh of nine children born to Charles John Clay and Emma Jean Greenfield Clay, entered this world on January 22, 1936, in Kinloch, Missouri. Haile had a thirst for knowledge, being the first African-American engineering graduate at the University of Missouri to earn a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, then continuing on to earn his Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Masters of Business Administration from Santa Clara University, and his acceptance a the Ph.D. program by the Mechanical Engineering Department of Stanford University. Early in life Haile was employed by such prestigious entities as McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, North American Aviation, Sylvania, and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). Haile is the named inventor under seven patents related to his field of research and education. Later in life Haile focused on his MBA education becoming the CEO and owner of Clay-Leffler Environmental Systems, Executive Vice President of Bank of America, and President of Western Farm Credit Bank, finally retiring after several years as a business consultant.

Haile enjoyed his family, golf, tennis, cooking, and building his homes. He was described as a person who “walked around the house with a tool belt on.” Haile departed this life October 25th, 2017, leaving behind to celebrate his love, brilliance, and life are children, Charles, Andrea, and Haile (Teddy); grandchildren, Virginia, Madison, and Furious; siblings, Roy, Charles, Imogene and Myrtle; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws. Haile now joins his parents, and siblings Thaddeus, Pauline, William and Hope.

Services will be held Wednesday, November 8th, 2017, at the Chapel of the Chimes, Oakland, California at 4499 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, California 94611. There will be a viewing at 11:30 am followed by services at 1pm.

Flowers are appreciated as are donations to the Alzheimer’s Association in Haile’s name at alz.org.