The TAMS Journal for March-April 2025 noted the death of C. R. Clark, Jr. As a numismaticauthor, he deserves to be mentioned in The E-Sylum.

Clark was born on April 10, 1928, In Princeton, West Virginia. His father was Charles RoyClark, Sr. (1902-1969), a pipefitter with the railroad, and mother was Hassie Roles Clark (1904-1976). At age fourteen Charles joined his father to work as a brakeman on the Virginia Railroad.

He married Virginia Marion Vest (1927-2008) on March 18, 1949. They had a son, Robert.

Charles attended Bluefield Junior college. He was a star basketball player who led his team tothe junior college final four. He graduated from East Tennessee State University in 1950 with adegree in engineering, physics and math.

C. R. Clark and Marion moved to Hurley, Virginia, for a year in 1950 to 1951 while C.R. taughtmath in high school. He also coached the basketball and football teams.He left to serve in the Air Force as an in-flight fuel instructor during the Korean War 1951 to1955.

He received an MS in business administration from the University of Kentucky in 1960.The couple moved to St. Petersburg in 1957. Clark taught mathematics at St. Petersburg highschool from 1957 until retirement in 1990.

He was a collector of Florida tokens and a specialist in the field. He joined the board of the FloridaToken Society in 1975 and served as the president 1978 to 1980. He was the editor of Tokenews,their quarterly publication from 1979 to 1985. He wrote articles for the TAMS Journal and othertoken publications.

He was the author of Florida Trade Tokens published in 1980 and Florida Tokens published in1990. He was an active member of the Southeast Token Society (SETS).

He was vice president of the American Play Money Society (APMS) and contributed articles totheir newsletter, Fun Money. The June 1996 issue had his article on The December 1996 issue had These are just examples of many articles on toy money.

In 2007, the Florida Token Society presented C. R. Clark and Marion with their LifetimeAchievement Award. The club issued two plastic tokens and an elongated coin to commemoratethe event.Clark died on November 6, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Florida. He was cremated with his ashesplaced with Virginia Marion Clark at Bay Pines National Cemetery.

To read issues of Fun Money on the Newman Numismatic Portal, see:
Fun MoneyNewsletter of the American Play Money Society(https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/528207)