School Receives $500,000 Bequest

The Dental Foundation of North Carolina Inc. and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry have received a bequest of nearly $500,000 from Anne Mills Clark in the name of her late husband, Dr. Robert Russell Clark, a North Carolina native and former Chapel Hill dental practitioner.

The Dr. Robert Russell Clark Memorial Scholarship will fund at least five yearly scholarships of $5,000 each. The scholarships, to be awarded with preference given to North Carolinians will start benefiting students during the 2000-2001 academic year.

The Clarks moved to Chapel Hill from Maryland in 1927 after Robert, a Weldon, N.C., native, graduated from the University of Maryland Dental College in Baltimore. He practiced dentistry on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill for 11 years until a heart attack forced him to close his practice.

After Clark's heart attack in 1938, Anne started her own antiques business. While also caring for her husband, she converted a hunting lodge on their property into her new business. Friends said she used her impeccable sense of style and tradition, along with an uncanny business sense, to forge a successful career in antiques, fine art and exquisite collectibles. Her discerning selection of financial advisers resulted in the substantial long-term growth of her investments. She died last Feb. 26 at age 96.

Friends and family said Clark provided the Carolina basketball team with dental services and remained an avid Tar Heel fan until his death in 1963.

Joe Wall, a retired UNC-CH School of Dentistry faculty member and longtime neighbor and friend, encouraged Anne Clark to honor her husband and his profession with a gift to benefit dentistry students. Wall's wife, Peggy, who lived next to the Clarks as a child and as an adult, said Anne wanted to pay tribute to her husband and believed that a memorial scholarship was the perfect way to do so.

The Dental Foundation held a special commemorative ceremony on October 21 to honor Clark and to recognize his wife's generous gift to the School of Dentistry.

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