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World-renown Japanese art collector Bill Clark passed away on Nov. 22 at 85 

On May 22, 2009, Bill Clark (center) was awarded the Japanese government medal in San Francisco. Posed with Mr. Clark were Shige Higashi  (left), editor and publisher of Cultural News, and Jane Imai of Shumei Art Council in Pasadena. (Cultural News Photo)

According to the Fresno Bee newspaper, world-renown Japanese art collector Bill Clark at Hanford in Central California passed away on Nov. 22 at the age of 85.
 
Excerpt from The Fresno Fee, November 24, 2015:
 
Willard G. "Bill" Clark, the Hanford rancher-turned-export-businessman whose love of Japanese art and canny eye for purchasing priceless objects turned him into a world-renowned collector, died Sunday, Nov. 22 on the Hanford ranch where he lived for all his 85 years.
 
A cause of death was not released by his family.
 
Mr. Clark founded the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture in Hanford in 1995 with his wife, Elizabeth "Libby" Clark. The small but prestigious institution, which attracted followers of Japanese art from all over the world, was an unlikely sight on Avenue 10 south of Hanford, tucked into the middle of almond orchards just down the street from a dairy farm.
 
In 2009, the Japanese government awarded him a high honor in recognition for his "accomplishments in contributing to the introduction of Japanese art and toward the promotion of cultural and educational exchange" between Japan and the U.S.
 
A memorial service will be held in spring
 


Shige Higashi, editor and publisher of Cultural News, is currently seeking $30,000 fund by Dec. 31, 2015, for the 2015-2017 publishing project of promoting Japanese art and culture in Southern California. For more information...

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