{"id":22698,"date":"2025-10-27T19:28:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T19:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/22698\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T19:28:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T19:28:06","slug":"jim-clark-florida-historian-professor-journalist-dies-at-78","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/22698\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Clark, Florida historian, professor, journalist, dies at 78"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim Clark<\/a>, a UCF<\/a> senior lecturer, author, historian, political commentator and longtime Orlando Sentinel journalist, has died after a heart attack at his home in Orlando. He was 78.<\/p>\n

Clark was a native of Washington, D.C., and grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He moved to Orlando and began working at the Orlando Sentinel<\/a> in 1976, where he held several positions over 22 years, including deputy managing editor. Later, he became publisher and editor of Orlando Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He had worked on the faculty of the University of Central Florida\u2019s history department since 1986, teaching an American history course as recently as Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always was doing three things at once,\u201d said Jane Healey, Clark\u2019s former wife and former managing editor of the Sentinel. \u201cHe\u2019d be on his computer, he\u2019d be watching a football game, he\u2019d be writing a book, plus getting ready for class the next day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff Moore, dean of UCF\u2019s College of Arts and Humanities, said Clark was a model faculty member.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis depth of knowledge as a Central Florida historian was extraordinary,\u201d Moore said in a statement. \u201cBut what truly set Jim apart was how that knowledge was rooted in his connection to people. He was a people person in every sense of the word, and that translated beautifully into his teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

At UCF, his duties included classes with as many as 300 students as well as honors courses with 20 students.<\/p>\n

\u201cJim could offer his class at 9 in the morning, and it would still fill because of his reputation as a teacher, somebody who really cared about the success of his students,\u201d Brian Craig Miller, chair of the history department, said Monday.<\/p>\n

Clark was a popular speaker across the state, said John Sacher, a history professor and former department chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a big proponent of the idea that the university and the larger community have a connection, and you have to continue to make that connection,\u201d Sacher said. \u201cI think it was his passion to make sure that his teaching wasn\u2019t just in the classroom, but it was outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark received degrees from Lenior-Rhyne University, Stetson University and the University of Florida, where he earned a Ph.D. in history. He wrote several books about Florida history, including \u201cA History Lover\u2019s Guide to Florida,\u201d \u201cRed Pepper and Gorgeous George: Claude Pepper\u2019s Epic Defeat in the 1950 Democratic Primary\u201d and \u201cLast Train South: The Flight of the Confederate Government from Richmond.\u201d<\/p>\n

He \u201chad made such huge contributions, being able to share those stories and highlight what Florida is about \u2014 you know, that there is a lot of great history here, and it\u2019s not just Disney, not just the swamps,\u201d said Azela Santana, executive director of Orange County Regional History Center<\/a>, who worked with Clark at UCF.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made it fun. \u2026 He made it interesting. And I think him being able to share that to a wider audience was really important,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know that there is anybody who knew more about Florida history than Jim,\u201d said Peter King, a friend and longtime CBS News Radio<\/a> correspondent.<\/p>\n

Clark also made television appearances as a political analyst.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had that unique perspective of not just having a local point of view, but a national point of view,\u201d King said. \u201cHe really knew how to look at the big picture. I don\u2019t think that his analysis was based on anything other than, well, here are the facts. \u2026 Make your own conclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark is survived by two sons, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. A memorial service is planned.<\/p>\n

dbevil@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jim Clark, a UCF senior lecturer, author, historian, political commentator and longtime Orlando Sentinel journalist, has died after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[15586,113,28,114,266,5742,115,17569,1335,139,141,140,99,109,106,3865],"class_list":["post-22698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-books","tag-education","tag-florida","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-national-politics","tag-news","tag-news-obituaries","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-politics","tag-social","tag-things-to-do","tag-ucf-knights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}