Robert B. Clarke was a chairman of Grolier Inc., publisher of encyclopedias and other educational material. Clarke was born in 1928 in Mountainside, N.J., and attended the University of Miami. He was a sailing enthusiast an a founder of the Cousteau Society. Clarke joined Grolier in 1949 and rose from shipping clerk to president in 1976 and chairman in 1978. He was credited with bringing the company, which was failing, back to financial health in the late 1970's and early 80's. Before he retired in 1989, Mr. Clarke developed a number of marketing strategies, many aimed at the children's market, including the Dr. Seuss Book Club, the Beginning Readers Program and, under license from the Disney organization, the Disney Book Club. He was a past chairman of the Direct Marketing Association and a past chairman of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce. He died aged 62 on the 2 November 1990 from leukaemia.