Louis was born in Benson, Arizona, on May 2, 1912. At the age of six he moved to Tucson, where he went through grammar school and attended Tucson High School. He then entered the University of Arizona in 1931, pledged Kappa Sigma, and was initiated the same year. He carried route 13 for the Arizona Daily Star through all four years of high school and five years of college, starting at 3 a.m. each morning, seven days a week, biking 15 miles on each route. He then went to campus and worked at the cafeteria at 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. and then 4 p.m. – 6 p.m., five days a week. Louis was also on the track team where he was a pole-vaulter and held the school record for 12 years. He lettered in the sport as a freshman, sophomore and junior. He also took part in Kappa Sigma’s intramurals and was a member of the Men’s “A Club”. When Louis reached his junior year, he was awarded a scholarship as “Outstanding Student” because of his grade point average, fraternity involvement, jobs and athleticism.
After graduating in May 1935 with a BS/BA degree in Accounting, Louis went to Pomona, California to train to be a CPA at Fernstrom Paper Mills, a company that manufactured tissue wraps for oranges, lemons, grapefruits and tomatoes. At that time, all these items were wrapped for shipment. He needed two years of experience making balance sheets and profit law statements before taking the CPA exam. On assignment, Brother Clark was sent to Los Angeles to audit a subsidiary company called Protecto Products, Corp., and became fascinated with paper toilet sanitary seat covers. He had a dream that someday this item would be used in every public restroom, in office buildings, state and federal buildings, department stores, universities, stadiums, sport centers, and so on.
Louis became president and a stockholder in Protecto Products Corp. when he was 36 years old. He helped build the company into one of the largest in the nation as Brother Clark spent the next 20 years there. The company was then sold to Potlatch Forest from Idaho. Brother Clark stayed for one year as General Sales Manager. At that time, they started producing the first colored paper napkins, which is now an everyday commodity.
Upon leaving Potlatch Forest, Brother Clark started his own business called Clark Paper Converting Corporation in Los Angeles, soon building his own plant in South El Monte, California. After three years, his company became one of the biggest in the market and after 29 years Louis sold the business and retired at the age of 70, knowing that his dream had come true.
Fifty years after his U of A graduation, Louis met Margaret Ann Hagius, also a U of A alumnus, for the first time. They were married in 1986. Brother Clark’s daughter, granddaughter, sister, and son-in-law are all University of Arizona graduates, as well.
