DALLAS -- The Rev. C.A.W. Clark Sr., who spent more than half a century preaching from the pulpit of a South Dallas church, died Sunday. He was 93.
"This is the passing of an era. We won't see his likes again," the Rev. Gerald Britt Jr., vice president for public policy at Central Dallas Ministries, told The Dallas Morning News for its Monday editions. "He was a master of the pulpit. He influenced generations of preachers."
Services will be Aug. 4 at Clark's Good Street Baptist Church. Funeral arrangements are being handled by the Sandra Clark Funeral Home. Viewing will be all day on Aug. 2, followed by a celebration of life service Sunday during normal church services.
Born Caesar Arthur Walter Clark on Dec. 13, 1914, in Shreveport, La., Clark was ordained in 1933 and led his first pastorate at the Israelite Baptist Church in Longstreet, La., at the age of 19, according to his church Web site.
He joined Good Street in September 1950 and remained there until his death. Good Street became one of Dallas' first black megachurches, opening its doors to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1956. Clark, a friend of King's father, encouraged the younger King in his work.
At Good Street, Clark oversaw the opening of day care centers, a credit union, low-income housing and a legal clinic.
"Everybody who knows anything about black Baptist life is familiar with C.A.W. Clark," Cleophus LaRue, author of the book "The Heart of Black Preaching," told The Dallas Morning News in 2006. "He was regarded as one of the great black preachers in the 20th century."
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