J. Leonard Clark; Candy Company Founder
J. Leonard Clark, who founded the Clark Gum Co. and the Fan Tan Co., has died at a Valencia hospital. He was 80.
A resident of Canyon Country, Clark died March 18 of complications of a blood clot, said his granddaughter, Stephanie Cain of Ventura.
Born in McKeesport, Pa., Clark worked for the family-owned Clark Candy Co.in Philadelphia during his youth. The company, which his father started in 1887, made the Clark candy bar and Cracker Jack.
At the age of 16, Clark founded the Clark Gum Co., which made Teaberry gum, as a division of the family company. In 1953, he founded the Fan Tan Co. in Dayton, Ohio, which produced the first sugar-free gum called “Dental Gum.”
Two years later, Clark and his brothers sold the Clark Candy Co. to the Beatrice Food Co. Clark also sold the Fan Tan Co. and moved to California in 1956. On the West Coast, he worked as an investor.
Clark is survived by his daughters Barbara Morris of Canyon Country, Sherry Clark of Oregon, Linda Clark of Pittsburgh, and Gail Clark and Valerie Clark, both of Hemet; sister Dorothy Sprage of Florida; eight grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.
Private services have been held. Eternal Valley Mortuary in Newhall handled the arrangements.
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