Robert Clark

Biography

Sir Robert Anthony Clark DSC (6 January 1924 – 3 January 2013) was a British naval officer and businessman. Clark attended King's College, Cambridge, before leaving at the age of 18 to join the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War. Discovered to be colour blind he was relegated to non-seagoing posts, a prospect he found unappealing. He volunteered for service with the Special Operations Executive and saw active service in Italy, first on amphibious missions and later as a liaison officer with partisans in the Piedmont Mountains. Clark was captured by the Germans, and was later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his gallantry. A chance meeting after the war led to a position at the law firm of Slaughter & May, where he was soon made a partner. He switched career to become a merchant banker with Hill Samuel, where he developed an expertise in company mergers and acquisitions. Clark acted as chairman or director for numerous firms and sat on many governments bodies and committees. Clark met Robert Maxwell in 1969 when Maxwell attempted to outbid Rupert Murdoch for the News of the World, starting a lifelong acquaintance. He led Hill Samuel through their takeover by TSB before Maxwell brought him on as a non-executive director at his Mirror Group of media companies. Clark became embroiled in the scandal at the Mirror Group that unfolded after Maxwell's death in 1991. Clark claimed to be ignorant of Maxwell's £492 million defrauding of the company and its pension scheme, and faced a non-confidence vote by the shareholders. He survived to be made chairman of the group and to rebuild it after the scandal.

Bio from Wikipedia