Unlikely Notes of a Banker

Very likely, the notes of most bankers do not reflect a path toward understanding. Clark's journey began decades ago in college, when he considered going into the ministry and received a liberal arts degree, concentrating in the Department of Religion. In the years that followed, Clark's understanding evolved, and throughout most of his thirty-five-year career in the financial services business, he wrote notes and collected articles of personal interest, primarily related to psychology and philosophy, seeking an understanding of who we are in this world. Clark is a native of Wilmington, Delaware, and, after college and military service, he was employed at a bank there for over two decades. Around age fifty, Clark decided to make an effort to work where he wanted to live, instead of having to live where he was employed. He left a secure, well-established executive position, and moved on. Clark's lifelong love of nature took him from the East Coast west to the Rockies, where he spent much of his free time hiking and climbing in the mountains (the San Juans and the Tetons), often enjoying being out alone. His first move was to Telluride, Colorado, and then on to Santa Fe and Jackson Hole. Except for a detour into the real estate business in Telluride, his career in financial services continued. Wherever he moved, his ever-expanding collection of notes-along with numerous underlined, marked-up books with turned-down pages-went with him. Finally, in retirement, Clark had time to organize and communicate his thoughts and ideas, his "notes," into this book, which shares his journey toward understanding. Clark, a graduate of Princeton University, veteran of the Marine Corps, and retired banker, now resides in Aiken, South Carolina, but spends his summers in the Blue Ridge Mountains.