Bookstore owner led Hilo arts community

Paul Mark Clark, a former Hilo bookstore owner long active in the arts, including community theater, died Saturday at Hilo Medical Center after a long fight with cancer and diabetes.

He was 63.

Clark was especially noted for his frequent participation in the Hilo Community Players, including launching the still continuing "Shakespeare in the Park" series in 1978. He helped found the East Hawaii Cultural Center, created in the former Hilo police headquarters after police moved to bigger quarters in 1975.

In 1992 he received the Pierre Bowman Lifetime Achievement award at the Po'okela Awards.

He was also active in the Democratic Party.

Clark was born in Auburn, Wash., and came to Hilo in the 1960s.

He is survived by brothers Hugh, a retired newspaper reporter, and Tom, a lawyer, and sister Joan, a property manager.

A memorial service will be at the cultural center at 5 p.m. Sept. 14, his birthday, when he would have been 64. Scattering of ashes the following day in Hilo Bay.