Walter Clive Clark (22 October 1927 – 21 November 2019) was a New Zealand zoologist who specialised in the study of nematodes and pycnogonids. He was a professor at Massey University and later the University of Canterbury.
Wally Clark | |
|---|---|
| Born | Walter Clive Clark (1927-10-22)22 October 1927 Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Died | 21 November 2019(2019-11-21) (aged 92) Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Alma mater | Imperial College, London |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Zoology |
| Institutions | Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Massey University University of Canterbury |
| Thesis | Systematic and morphological studies on some Enoplida Nematoda, with special reference to the soil fauna of New Zealand (1961) |
| Doctoral advisors | Bernard Peters Charles Potter |
| Doctoral students | Gregor Yeates |
Born in Christchurch on 22 October 1927, Clark was the son of Clive Harold Clark and Ellen Martha Clark (née Baldwin).[1] He had his early education at Bruce Bay, where his academic potential was first recognised, before moving back to Christchurch about the end of 1942.[2] Clark later studied at Canterbury University College, graduating MSc with first-class honours in 1957.[1][3] He was an assistant lecturer in biology at Christchurch Teachers' College from 1954 to 1955 and an assistant lecturer in zoology at Canterbury from 1956 to 1957.[1] He was then a principal scientific officer in nematology in the entomology division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in Nelson from 1957 to 1964.[1] The DSIR supported Clark to undertook doctoral studies, and he completed a PhD at Imperial College London, supervised by Bernard Peters and Charles Potter, in 1961.[4] The title of his doctoral thesis was Systematic and morphological studies on some Enoplida Nematoda, with special reference to the soil fauna of New Zealand.[4]
In 1958, Clark married Gwenda Bellamy Goodman.[1][5]
Clark was appointed professor of zoology at Massey University in 1964, but in 1967 he returned to Department of Zoology at the University of Canterbury as a reader (equivalent to associate professor).[1] He rose to the rank of professor and also served as head of department.[6] His main research interests were nematodes and pycnogonids.[1] On his retirement from Canterbury in 1988, Clark was conferred the title of professor emeritus.[7]
Among the research students supervised by Clark was Gregor Yeates, who completed his PhD on the ecology of nematodes in sand dunes in 1968.[8]
In retirement, Clark lived in the small town of Woodend. His first wife died in 1999,[9] and he later remarried, to Clover.[5] He died on 21 November 2019.[5]