Charles W. Clark (businessman)

Clark was born on November 3, 1871 in Deer Lodge, Montana. His father, William A. Clark (1839–1925), was a Montana copper magnate and later a United States Senator for Montana.[1][2] His mother, Katherine Louise Stauffer (1844–1893), was a socialite.[3]

He served as the manager and later as chairman of the United Verde Copper Company in Jerome, Arizona.[1][2] Together with his father and his brother, he was also a partner in a bank in Butte, Montana.[2]

In 1896, Charles Clark married Katherine Quinn Roberts, who died in New York City in January 1904.[4] Later that year, he married Cecelia "Celia" Tobin (1874–1965), a member of San Francisco high society, who came from one of San Francisco’s founding families, who opened and grew its Hibernia Bank and were patrons of numerous civic causes.[5] She had been trained as a pianist and in equestrianism.[2] They divorced and she later moved into a home in Hillsborough, California, which became known as the Tobin Clark Estate.[6]

A fan and participant in equestrian sports, Clark resided at his "El Palomar" estate in San Mateo, California, a property he purchased in 1902 which had a polo field and race track.[1] The owner of Thoroughbred racehorses, among his successful runners was United Verde, a horse named for his mining company. United Verde won several stakes races including the 1920 Bashford Manor Stakes and the 1922 Ben Ali Handicap.[7][8]

According to Pulitzer winner Bill Dedman, Clark had "the longest private railcar ever built, which he sold to Howard Hughes."[1] He was prone to heavy drinking and gambling.[1]

He collected rare books. In 1917, the Book Club of California presented an exhibition of 66 incunabula from his collection at the Hill Tolerton Gallery, San Francisco.[9]

Charles Clark died of pneumonia on April 3, 1933, in New York City.[1] He was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York City.[10]