PHIL CLARKE SR., CONSOLIDATION PIONEER, DIES

PHIL CLARKE SR., CONSOLIDATION PIONEER, DIES

   Phil Clarke Sr., former Sea-Land executive and considered a pioneer of consolidation, died Feb. 19, of cancer. He was 79.

   Clarke is credited for setting up West Coast and Far East terminal    operations for Sea-Land during the 1960s and early 1970s. In 1973, he started Buyers Consolidators, the former in-house freight consolidation arm of Sea-Land. Buyers was recently absorbed into Maersk Logistics after Maersk’s acquisition of Sea-Land last year.

   In 1978, Clarke left Sea-Land to form Distribution Services Ltd., based in South Gate, Calif. The company quickly became one of the largest import non-vessel-operating common carriers in the United States.

   “He was a visionary and pioneer,” said Cobb Grantham, chief executive officer and chairman of DSL. “He saw clearly that there was a need to take all different types of processes and bring them together under one company.”

   “He was an icon in our industry — a rare person of knowledge and integrity,” said Art Hollenbach, former vice president of transportation and imports for Edison Bros. Stores.

   Wook Kim, president of DSR-Senator Lines remembered Clarke as “tough but fair — a man of principal.”

   Clarke is survived by his wife, Susie, and their five children. The funeral will be held Feb. 26 in Henderson, Nev.