J. Joseph Clarke, developer and husband of Mary Pat Clarke, dies

J. Joseph Clarke, a real estate developer who saw the potential of Fell Point’s old Recreation Pier, died Saturday of complications of a fall he suffered at his Tuscany-Canterbury home.

He was 83 and died at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital.

Mr. Clarke recently celebrated his 60th wedding anniversary with his wife, former City Council member Mary Pat Clarke, who served two terms as council president.

“Joe was jovial, collegial and helpful to me,” said former Maryland Senator Barbara A. Mikulski. “He was a friend and adviser on my 1971 and 1976 campaigns. We’d sit at a table at Chiapparelli’s restaurant and we’d write my radio ads.”

Born in Baltimore and raised near Patterson Park, he was the son of Rose Ellen Hagan and John Joseph “Joe” Clarke, a Swift & Co. manager. The family lived in Salisbury, Queens, New York, and Drexel Hills in the Philadelphia suburbs.

He met his future wife, Mary Pat Hines, at an eighth grade St. Patrick’s Day mixer.

He was a Monsignor Bonner High School for Boys graduate and earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He later earned master’s degrees at the Johns Hopkins University, where he also taught real estate.

After working at KYW-TV in Philadelphia, and campaigning for Pennsylvania Gov. Milton Shapp, Mr. Clarke returned to Baltimore to be the advertising manager for radio station WCBM-AM. He later held posts at the United Way of Central Maryland and was the Greater Baltimore Committee’s associate director.

Active in the New Democratic Club, he ran unsuccessfully for state Senate in the 1970 primary on a racially integrated ticket. He lost the election by 243 votes to Julian L. Lapides and Robert L. Dalton for the two seats in the old Second District of Baltimore City.

He lobbied for construction of a downtown people mover and promoted the building of the Baltimore Metro subway. In a 1976 Sun story, Mrs. Clarke, who was then serving on the City Council, said she was “vehemently” opposed to the subway.

“I respect his position and he respects mine,” she told the paper.

From 1977 to 1980 he was a special assistant to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and worked with deputy secretary Robert C. Embry Jr., Baltimore’s former housing commissioner.

“We drove each day to Washington,” said Ms. Mikulski. “He was at the wheel.”

Mr. Clarke owned and managed the Baltimorean Apartments in Charles Village. He helped developed Cove Point in Dundalk and the Schoolhouse Mews in Sharp-Leadenhall.

He was a managing director of the One Light Street building in downtown Baltimore and proposed that Fell Point’s Recreation Pier be preserved. The site later became the Sagamore Pendry Baltimore, a hotel and restaurant.

“Joe was affable. He was a willing listener and a person who tried to move the city forward,” said Alfred W. Barry III, a friend. “He never looked for any attention.”

“Joe was an astute observer of local and national politics, an avid traveler, a lifelong learner, information sharer and a passionate follower of the Baltimore Orioles,” said his son, John Joseph Clarke Jr.

Mr. Clarke was a political adviser to Ms. Mikulski and U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes.

“My father was a lifelong sounding board for Mary Pat in her long career in public service and Baltimore politics,” said his son.

Mr. Clarke was an active Roman Catholic and sat on committees at Saint Ignatius Church and the Basilica of the Assumption.

He was a past board chair of St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center and sat on the boards of Jubilee Baltimore, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Walters Art Museum.

“My father believed in serving without attention. My mom would encounter Baltimoreans who shared tales of some charitable effort in which Dad impacted their lives — which Dad had never mentioned,” said his daughter, Erin Clarke Gorden.

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“Joe also loved snowstorms when he could read by the fireplace in his home bursting with books: histories, biographies, and every published piece by his old friend [journalist] Garry Wills,” said his daughter Erin.

He was a runner and spent parts of the summers at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Saint Ignatius Church at 740 N. Calvert Street.

Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Mary Pat Clarke; a son, John J. Clarke Jr. of, New Canaan, Connecticut; three daughters, Erin Clarke Gorden, of Dover, Massachusetts, Susan Chandrasekhar, of Los Angeles, and Jenny Clarke, of Baltimore; a sister, Bonnie Clarke of Austin, Texas; and ten grandchildren.