Mike Clark Collection

Michael D. Clark was an extraordinary person who sought to improve the quality of education and geology program at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Mike was a native of Georgetown, Colorado, where he grew up and attended high school. Mike attended Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado and moved to Calgary in '70s to work in the petroleum industry. In 1989, he started employment at Mount Royal as an instructional assistant in the Department of Geology where he operated, maintained, and troubleshot department equipment; assisted instructors in laboratory design; and coordinated local field-schools. Mike’s passion as a staff member at Mount Royal, however, was his interaction with students. Mike made sure that his job was focused on student success as he constantly strove to create a stimulating educational environment, assist students with outreach and proactive activities in the local geological community, and provide assistance and advice to students seeking employment. 

One of Mike’s lifelong pursuits was collecting the minerals of Alberta and Colorado. In this interest, he combined an in-depth knowledge of the province’s geologic narrative—and his home state’s mining history—with an encyclopedic memory of famous mineral and fossil collecting sites. Mike was a collector from the purist’s era of mineral collecting; he was hooked at a very young age and collected for over six decades. Always a pleasure-seeker, Mike pursued collecting for the delight and intellectual challenge. Collecting struck a sentimental chord with Mike, as he had little regard to minerals and fossils as a long-term investment. Mike was admired and respected by many professors, professional geologists and palaeontologists, and held in high regard by hundreds of students who have received starter mineral collections from him. During his time at Mount Royal, he assembled an extensive and vast collection of more than 8,000 minerals and fossils, including many exotic and rare mineral species. Mike, however, saw himself as a curator of these samples as a reference suite and a teaching collection for the benefit of future geology students. A passion project of Mike’s was his desire to build a mineral, gemstone, and fossil display of his personal collection in a permanent home at Mount Royal for the public to enjoy. 

Rocky Mountain Minerals & Fossils is helping the estate of Mike Clark and Mount Royal University raise funds by marketing a portion of his extensive mineral and fossil collection. 25% of sales proceeds from Mike's collection, via Rocky Mountain, will be contributed to the Mike Clark Memorial Scholarship. The Mike Clark Memorial Scholarship was established by the family and friends of Mike Clark and is designed to be a lasting tribute to Mike, in recognition of his commitment to helping students, particularly those interested in geologic field work. The $1,000 scholarship recognizes a geology student who excels at field geology. 
Here is a link to the scholarship fund: https://foundation.mru.ca/mike-clark-memorial-scholarship