Samuel W. Parke Jr., 77, investment manager

Samuel Williams Parke Jr., 77, formerly of Phoenixville, an investment manager in Philadelphia for a quarter century, died Thursday, March 24, of cancer at his retirement home in Tiburon, Calif.

Born to Samuel W. and Sarah E. Parke in Philadelphia, he graduated from Germantown Friends School in 1956 and Dartmouth College in 1960.

Mr. Parke married Marily Clapham in 1975. The couple lived in Wyndmoor and Ambler. She died in 1994.

In 2003, Mr. Parke married Marilyn M. Johnston, and the two lived in Phoenixville before moving to Tiburon.

Mr. Parke served in the Army Security Agency, its intelligence-gathering arm, in 1961 and was honorably discharged with the rank of captain. He joined Schmidt, Roberts & Parke Inc., a Center City securities investment firm founded by his father in 1937.

After a merger in 1974, Schmidt, Roberts & Parke became Newbold's Asset Management in Bryn Mawr. Mr. Parke was the successor company's senior vice president and portfolio manager until his retirement in 1997.

Mr. Parke was a past treasurer and member of the board of the Seamen's Church Institute of Philadelphia, a nonprofit founded in 1834 that cares for the personal, professional, and spiritual needs of mariners around the world, according to its online mission statement.

His other interests included history, politics, travel, drinking Pinot Noir, and walking by the water with his Labrador retriever, Duchess. He loved California.

"He was the consummate gentleman, and lived his life with integrity," his family said.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by three sisters; stepchildren Rick Johnston, Leslie Grayson, Dina Falk, and Kim Hill; 11 grandchildren; and 10 nieces and nephews.

A memorial service and burial were March 29 in California.

Donations may be made to Hospice by the Bay via hospicebythebay.org, or the Cancer Research Institute via cancerresearch.org.

bcook@phillynews.com

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