Dr. Clark William Thomas Falconer lived a life in three beautiful acts — each one written with curiosity, purpose, and an ear always tuned for the next good song.

Act One: The Middle Child

Clark was born in Edmonton, Alberta, to Ev-y Baby and George — the middle child of three, a title he wore for the rest of his life with a kind of wry affection, referencing it often. When the family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Clark found the place that would shape him: lifelong friendships, a growing love of music, literature, and ideas, and the beginning of a career in medicine that would become his life’s work. He trained as a psychiatrist, becoming a renowned family therapist, drawn — even then — to the stories people carry and the quiet architecture of the mind.

Act Two: A Family, A Sound, A Shoreline

Winnipeg gave Clark more than a career. It gave him a family — he married and had two children, a daughter and a son, who became the center of his world. Together they traveled widely and returned, summer after summer for nearly thirty years, to Lake of the Woods, where some of his family’s most treasured memories were made. It was here, too, that Clark honed his gift as a musician, playing tenor sax and piano, and deepened the love of music, literature, and writing that would define him. 

Act Three: The Pacific Reinvention

In his third act, Clark moved to Vancouver, BC, where he opened his own private practice and built a new life with his second wife and his step-son, waking each day to a grand, sweeping view of the Pacific. Vancouver became his most prolific chapter — he wrote and published four books, one nonfiction and three fiction, while continuing to compose and perform piano. He painted. He read voraciously. He was always hunting for the next emerging jazz artist, yet time and again found his way back to the two voices that seemed to speak his language best: Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan.

Epilogue:

After a short and sudden illness, Clark passed away, looking out at the Pacific and Stanley Park, surrounded by those he loved most: his grandchildren, London and George; his children, Harris and Erin; his step-son, Jordan; his son in law, Louis; his lifelong friend, Dave; and his great love and intellectual interlocutor, Anita.

Clark was a true renaissance man in every sense of the word. He left an impression — professionally and personally — on far more people than he ever could have imagined, and he will be missed by all of them.

‘Something there is about you that moves with style and grace

I was in a whirlwind, now I’m in some better place.

My hand’s on the saber and you’ve picked up the baton

Somethin’ there is about you that I can’t quite put my finger on.’ 

Bob Dylan