My friend Robert Clark was a man with diverse interests who offered his friendship to many of the people with whom he crossed paths. First among these was his partner of a third of a century, Susan Costello. They shared a home in Kennington, south London, that was neatly packed with books, music and their copious papers.
Robert, who has died of myeloma aged 71, was born in Llandudno, north Wales, son of Frank Clark, a tax inspector, and his wife, Joan (nee Davies). He attended Nottingham College of Education and worked briefly as a teacher. Then, in 1970, he joined the civil service, moved to London and met Susan.
Latterly Robert managed benefits offices in central London. The capital was the focus of his cultural and intellectual life too. He was an elder of the Friends House Quaker Meeting, a governor of a Lambeth primary school, a Pentonville prison visitor and a keen supporter of the London Sinfonietta.
He was a member of the committee of his local Labour party branch and a director of the consumer group Voice of the Listener and Viewer, championing especially the quality and diversity of radio broadcasting.
Robert was also part of an informal network of National Trust members that sprang from the Bradenham affair of 1982, when the trust granted a lease of land in the Chilterns for building an air force bunker, and members’ challenges to this decision led to changes in governance procedures. The group has monitored the trust’s governance ever since.
Robert was a lifelong Guardian reader. His fondness for place was not limited to Wales and London. Susan and he were regular visitors to Italy and to Orkney, for the St Magnus festival. Robert’s energy, his constructive attitude, his passions, his kindness and his generosity of spirit leave him bright in the memory of many.
Susan survives him, as does his sister, Ruth.
