PORTLAND — Former Portland Mayor and tavern owner Bud Clark has died.
Clark’s daughter confirmed to KATU-TV that he died Tuesday afternoon of congestive heart failure. He was 90 years old.
Clark, who was known for a gregarious and eccentric personality, became mayor in 1985 after an upset victory against incumbent Mayor Frank Ivancie. He served two terms, until 1992. He also owned the Goose Hollow Inn in southwest Portland.
As mayor, he shifted focus toward community policing, helped expand mass transit, developed a plan to address homelessness, and worked to have the Oregon Convention Center built.
An AP story from that time describes Clark as having a full beard, mustache, wavy gray hair and spectacles balanced on the end of his nose. It said he also had trademark cry of “whoop, whoop,” which was taken from an animal sound one of his tavern patrons used to make.
“When I moved to Portland 30 years ago, Bud Clark was Portland’s Mayor. It was always a blast to see our own Mayor biking all over the City and being so accessible to the community,” Portland Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty wrote on Twitter.
Clark was also known for his image in the 1970s “Expose Yourself to Art” poster, which has sold thousands of copies. The poster of an image shot in 1978 by Michael Ryerson appeared to show Clark in a trench coat flashing a nude bronze sculpture in downtown Portland.
Clark told KGW-TV the photo shoot was part of a local campaign to raise awareness in high schools of venereal disease. He said the picture that eventually became the poster got its caption through a contest in a community newspaper.
U.S. Rep Earl Blumenauer, a Portland Democrat who served on the City Council for six of Clark’s eight years in that role, called Clark an excellent mayor.
“He was much, much smarter than people recognized — very savvy, very tough, very committed, and very human,” Blumenauer said.
Clark was born in Idaho, and he moved to Portland as a child, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. He later joined the U.S. Marine Corps and attended several colleges.
