44 TRINITY TODAY The life of a career- driven sportsman JOHN FORREST HAYMEN CLARK AM (TC 1952) 31 January 1933 – 21 July 2018 John Clark was not only a career man, but also a keen sportsman and active member of the community. At Melbourne Grammar School, he served as a prefect and was football captain. He entered Trinity College in 1952 and joined the football team as a ‘bustling’ half-back, being named among the best-on-ground in all four games that year. John also helped Trinity secure its third intercollegiate athletics shield in a row in 1954, winning the long jump and 100-yard dash. He also helped out the rugby team, although clearly unfamiliar with the game. On being told he was to play five-eighth, he asked ‘Five- eighths of what?’ After graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering, John Clark began a career at BHP. During this time he rose from cadet in 1959 to become the third-highest ranking executive in the company. This included BHP’s executive general manager of corporate affairs from 1987–94. He also served as the general manager of human resources from 1985–87, where he oversaw the entire company workforce of about 70 000 people with specific responsibility for executive succession and development. John’s earlier roles at BHP included general manager at the Port Kembla Steelworks (1982–85), general manager at Whyalla (1980–82), manager of personnel and training (1969–73) and superintendent of No. 2 open hearth plant at Port Kembla (1967–68). Later in his career, John was a director of Foster’s Brewing Group from 1992 and United Energy from 1995. In New Zealand, he was a director at Penihana Nominees (1984–93) and New Zealand Steel Holdings (1992–93). John was also engaged in community life and was a director of The Australian Ballet centre, board member of Earthwatch Australia, member of the council of the Australian Ballet School, member of the Refugee Council of Australia, executive committee chairman for the Ian Clunies Ross Memorial Foundation, and chairman of the Melbourne Grammar School council. John was made a fellow of the University of Wollongong in 1986 and was appointed a member of the Order of Australia in 1995 for service to industry and commerce. A collaborative and dedicated leader, John always found time for his family. He married Janet Alexander in 1960 and they had five children: Charles (TC 1980), Nicholas (TC 1981), Sarah (TC 1984), Jonathan (TC 1988) and Peter (TC 1990). John’s younger brother Sandy entered Trinity in 1963. Flying the Norwegian flag THOROLD “THORRY” HARVEY GUNNERSEN AM (TC 1954) 29 November 1940 – 4 February 2018 Thorry Gunnersen attended Geelong Grammar as a boarder from 1948. Thorry was then a non-resident at Trinity College in 1959 but moved in for the following year. He was a member of the First XVIII and appeared as Captain Whit in Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair – the College play in 1960. Thorry graduated in commerce from the University of Melbourne and undertook further study at the University of Southampton in England, where he spent time sailing the Solent. He was a teacher at Ballarat Grammar School then taught economics at La Trobe University. The great-grandson of Captain Gunner Gunnersen, a Norwegian Baltic pine trader who made three trips to Australia as master of the Helga in the 1870s, Thorry was proud of his Norwegian heritage. Upon settling in Australia, Gunner entered into various partnerships in timber import, forestry and sawmilling. A family company was founded in 1879, now known as Gunnersen Timbermark. After the early death of his father, Thorry joined the business and shared management with his brother Peter. He went on to become executive chairman. Within the industry, Thorry served on many committees, including as chairman and founding director of the National Association of Forest Industries formed in 1986, and chairman of the Forest and Wood Products Research Development Corporation from 2000 to 2006. He was made a member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2002 for service to the forestery industry, particularly to sustainable resource management and the welfare of timber communities. The Gunnersens kept a house, ‘The Moorings’, at Mount Eliza, where a Norwegian flag always flew. The house overlooked the Davey’s Bay Yacht Club, which Thorry joined in the mid-1950s. He served on its committee for many years and was rear commodore. He asked Peter Joubert, Professor of Engineering at the University of Melbourne, to design a 42-foot ocean- racing sloop and Thorry sailed Tilting at Windmills in 13 Sydney to Hobart races. In 2009, Thorry was awarded the Romola Cup by the Royal Cruising Club in England for a 112-day cruise along the coast of Norway. Thorry married three times and had five children, one of who, Jenny, entered Trinity in 1982. During a long illness Thorry was sustained by innumerable expressions of love, not only from his family, but also by the countless loyal friends he had attracted through his warmth, generous hospitality, joie de vivre, humour and intellect. OBITUARIES