the Orlando Sentinel<\/a> in 1976, where he held several jobs on staff, including deputy managing editor, for 22 years.<\/p>\nHe joined the history department at the University of Central Florida in 1986, where he was still teaching just last week. He got his master\u2019s degree at Stetson University and his Ph.D in Florida history from the University of Florida.<\/p>\n
Clark became one of the top experts in Florida history, with books like \u201cA History Lover\u2019s Guide to Florida,\u201d \u201cHidden History of Florida,\u201d \u201cPresidents in Florida,\u201d and \u201cLost Attractions of Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
[WATCH: A look back at some of Central Florida\u2019s lost attractions]<\/p>\n
Here at News 6, we relied on Clark\u2019s historical perspective when talking about politics and government in Florida. You often saw Clark on our air over the years, especially during election season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would text him or send them an email and essentially say \u2018I\u2019m putting the bat signal up,\u2019\u201d said News 6 anchor Justin Warmoth. \u201cThat meant I need Jim Clark to come in and talk politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clark was more than just an expert for News 6; he was also part of our family. Clark would come into the newsroom and visit with everyone, no matter the job, and crack jokes like he was in the building all the time. He knew about our lives.<\/p>\n
[WATCH: WKMG Hits the Road as News 6 explores the history of 32825]<\/p>\n
\u201cMy son was born two years ago,\u201d said News 6 theme parks reporter and producer Haley Coomes. \u201cHe did send me a card, and it touched me greatly. It was unexpected.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he loved to tell us about his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew he loved being a grandpa. That\u2019s one of his favorite things. And he would often show me pictures,\u201d Warmoth said. \u201cAnd his son, he was so proud of his son being an ESPN analyst.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clark is survived by his two sons, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n
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Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 It\u2019s fair to say that Florida fascinated Jim Clark. The UCF senior lecturer, historian, newspaper…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[28,2457,17730,139,141,140,99,7219],"class_list":{"0":"post-23028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-history","10":"tag-jim-clark","11":"tag-orlando","12":"tag-orlando-headlines","13":"tag-orlando-news","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-ucf"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23028","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=23028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}