Former Councilwoman “Gussie” Clark dies at 81

Her death comes soon after her colleague Krajewski's.

Former Democratic councilwoman Augusta “Gussie” Clark, who held her at-large post for 20 years, died yesterday at the age 0f 81.

Clark was a kind of civic polymath who began in the publishing world at now defunct Color magazine, earned a masters in library science at Drexel and then a law degree from Temple, and became a campaign staffer for Rep. William Gray III’s campaign before being elected to council. She helped pass a 10-percent liquor tax that raised revenue for schools and headed the Education Committee for 12 years. Her death comes just under two months after her colleague Joan Krajewski, the spitfire councilwoman from the Northeast, died at the age of 79. [Inquirer]