Mark Cleary

August 7, 1946 - September 22, 2022

Mark William Cleary passed away on September 22, 2022. He was 76 years old. Born August 7, 1946, Mark was the second son of Alfred J Cleary and Kathleen Reilly Cleary, brother to Alfred junior, Anne, and Joseph.

Mark was born and raised in San Francisco, attended St. Stephen’s school, then St. Ignatius College Prep. A lifelong fan of the Jesuits, Mark went on to Santa Clara, breaking midway to enlist in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1967. Training hard at Camp Pendleton under the shadow of the Vietnam war, Mark broke his foot with a final week left in boot camp. Recognizing endurance to be the better part of success, he finished training with neither medical aid nor a word to anyone, first evidence of a stiff upper lip that he would present to the world his entire life. He was honorably discharged from the Corps in 1969, attained his diploma from Santa Clara, and began a life of business on the global scene.

In 1969, Mark began work at the brand-new international office of his family business, Clementina-Clemco Holdings, world’s largest supplier of air-powered abrasive blasting equipment. Mark began setting up operations overseas, tackling first Europe, then Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Sales offices, corporate headquarters, and manufacturing plants thrived in his wake. What started as a small company outpost in the UK was built into a monolith as Mark spent his career expanding Clemco’s business across the world, traveling through every land and crossing every sea, known from coast to coast like butter on toast.

In 1972, Mark met Karen Lautze, and the two began a lifelong love affair. They were married in 1975, and in 1980 the couple built their dream house overlooking Sausalito’s quiet waters. In 1981 they welcomed the arrival of Seán, their only child. The family adventured all over the world, piloted boats across San Francisco Bay, hunted, fished, hiked, and hailed and hosted countless days and nights of good conversation, good friendship, good food, and good wine.

A bear of a man with a whale of a heart, Mark was deeply involved in his community. A coach of baseball teams in both school and town for years, a creator of charity events and scholarships, he also was a regular contributor to organizations such as the Catholic Youth Organization, St. Anthony’s Kitchen, and the St. Vincent DePaul society. He also was a devotedly social creature as an enthusiastic member of San Francisco’s Bohemian Club, Pacific Union Club, and Olympic Club (and others). The man loved a good conversation with good people, and he made a point to keep in the habit.

Mark was a deeply creative soul: a designer, graphic artist, tinkerer, dreamer, and in his later years a writer, authoring 3 separate plays for his beloved Bohemian Club. Mark’s pen was also well-known to friends and colleagues; while he could hold court in a hall of hundreds, he was equally skilled at penning long, hilarious, and usually unsolicited missives concerning travel, business, family, friendship, and life in general. His voice, his mind, and his ability to use both to wonderful effect will be missed.

Kind and crusty, big and bad, gentle and thoughtful, Mark walked tall throughout his whole life, including the last 8.5 years during which he couldn’t walk at all. A brain tumor’s removal in 2013 left him half-paralyzed. He kept his jaw set and his head high and reclaimed much of his old self. And he held on, without complaint and without compromise.

But as the years passed, the effort and the cost accumulated, and we lost him recently to organ failure. While his final chapter was long, hard, and inexorable, he finished his life as he lived it: brave, calm, unflinching, and uncomplaining, with his head clear and his heart full. He died without pain or fear, surrounded by loved ones, in the house he built that looks down on the Bay he’d lived next to his whole life. In all ways -- life, sickness, injury, and finally death -- he set the example.

The family would like to thank Christy Strode, Monica Mendoza, Dora Solorzano, Claudia Osorno, Sandra Alderete, and Bernie Avan for their years of steadfast care and attention to our Mark. These women put his pieces back together and kept them whole with pure love, consideration, and professionalism. Angels exist, and they worked in our house.

Mark is survived by his wife Karen Cleary (neé Lautze), son Seán Cleary, brother Joe Cleary, and an endless and semi-distinguished roster of beloved friends, relatives, clubmates, playmates, and co-conspirators. A service will be held in Mark’s honor at St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco on October 25th at 11:00. Irish tweed is welcome.