Former president of $366M Fort Myers contractor dies at 89

Hugh Clark, a former president of Fort Myers-based B&I Contractors who helped guide the construction company’s transition to employee ownership, died Aug. 25, the company announced Monday. He was 89.

Clark, a mechanical engineer and retired U.S. Air Force Reserve lieutenant colonel, spent much of his career helping build B&I Contractors from a regional mechanical contractor into a company with operations spread throughout Florida. Clark was also one of B&I Contractors’ early partners, the company says.

“Hugh played an important role in building the foundation of B&I and shaping the values that continue to guide us today — integrity, quality, teamwork, and a commitment to the safety and well-being of our people,” the company says in a statement announcing his death.

Born Hugh Allison Clark Jr. in Savannah, Georgia, Clark grew up in Abbeville, South Carolina. He joined the Air Force after high school and trained as a Russian-language translator, serving in Berlin during the Cold War, according to his obituary. 

While stationed in Germany he met Ruth Johanna Gomm. They married in Berlin in 1957 and remained together for more than 68 years.

After leaving active duty, Clark enrolled at Clemson College, now Clemson University, where he studied mechanical engineering while working nights at a mill to support his family. He graduated in 1962, becoming the first member of his family to earn a college degree.

Clark began his engineering career at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in West Palm Beach, where he worked on jet propulsion systems, his obituary says. He later moved to Tampa and worked as a consulting engineer specializing in heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems for commercial and industrial buildings.

In 1969, Clark moved his family to Fort Myers to lead engineering and estimating for B&I, then a growing mechanical contractor firm. He remained in Fort Myers for the rest of his career.

B&I traces its history to 1960, when plumber Gordon “Buck” Harbuck and his wife, Ira, started the business in Fort Myers. Clark succeeded Harbuck as president after Harbuck retired in 1991. Gary Griffin, who followed Clark as president and chief executive in 1995, has credited both men with mentoring him and preparing him to lead the company.

“They made sure I got a lot of training and was well prepared to take over,” Griffin says in a Business Observer profile of the company. “I probably wasn’t ‘ready,’ but I was more ready than I would have been had it not been for them taking a personal interest in getting me ready.”

Clark also played a central role in establishing B&I’s employee stock ownership plan, the company says. Under such plans, employees accumulate ownership shares in the business they work for, then receive the value of those shares when they leave or retire.

Clark was “a strong believer in our people and the power of ownership,” B&I’s announcement says. 

“His vision helped create an ownership culture that continues to impact generations of B&I employee-owners,” the statement says. 

Today, the employee-owned company has offices in Fort Myers, Tamarac, Sarasota and Tampa. It provides mechanical, electrical and plumbing services for commercial, institutional and industrial projects across the country. Its portfolio includes work for health care systems, schools, local governments and Raymond James Stadium. It had $366 million in revenue last year. 

Clark continued his military service alongside his civilian career, serving more than 26 combined years in the Air Force and Air Force Reserve before retiring as a lieutenant colonel, according to his obituary. His family remembers him as mild-mannered and unassuming. 

B&I says Clark helped embed integrity, quality and teamwork in the company’s culture.

“Hugh’s legacy lives on in our people, our culture, and the company he helped build,” the company statement says. “We are grateful for his leadership, his contributions, and the lasting mark he left on the B&I family.”

Clark is survived by his wife, Ruth; three sons, Harvey, Brian and Michael; 12 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren. A private memorial service is scheduled for Sept. 1 at Fort Myers Memorial Gardens Funeral Home and Cemetery.

His family asked that memorial donations be made to the Hugh and Ruth Clark, Class of ’62 Scholarship Endowment at Clemson University.