Lake Forest man who died in plane crash remembered for love of flying
A devoted husband, a caring father, an entrepreneur and a loyal friend — H. Scott Clark’s family and buddies say the longtime Lake Forest resident was all of these things.
Clark was also a man who loved to fly, a pilot and flight instructor who was happy the minute he left the ground.
“That was his passion,” recalled his widow, Patricia Briggs-Clark. “He liked to be a bird.”
Clark, 65, was one of two people killed Thursday when a small plane crashed near a Crystal Lake intersection, east of the Lake in the Hills Airport. The Beechcraft S35 Bonanza’s owner, 82-year-old Paul Sanfilippo of Round Lake Park, also died.
Called Scott by his family and friends, Clark grew up in Glenview, the son of a Navy aviator. He loved planes from a young age, Briggs-Clark said.
“He flew since he was 14,” she said. “He used to wash planes out of Palwaukee (Airport) so he could get a ride.”
A Vietnam War veteran, Clark attended the University of Denver. He worked at his family’s company, the Kohl & Madden Printing Ink Corp., before striking out on his own, his widow said.
At the time of his death, Clark was preparing to launch a new business that involved recycling, she said.
Clark and Briggs-Clark were introduced by their parents, who knew each other in Florida. The couple had one daughter, Elizabeth, a student at Lake Forest High School.
Elizabeth described him as “the best father you could ever ask for.”
Flying wasn’t Clark’s only interest. He played the guitar, liked to sky-dive and was a master bonsai tree grower. Several of his trees decorate the space behind the family’s home.
“He didn’t focus on any one kind,” said friend Ethan Trull of Highland Park. “People would call him from all over the country to look at their trees.”
Another friend, Eric Rudzinski, remembered Clark as a funny guy who was “very fun to be around.”
“(He was) full of life,” said Rudzinski, of Chicago.
In addition to his wife and their daughter, Clark’s survivors include another daughter and two grandchildren.
A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Patrick Church, 950 W. Everett Road, Lake Forest. Interment will be at Sacred Heart Cemetery, Northbrook.
Memorials may be made in his name to the Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake-Cook Road, Glencoe, Ill., 60022.