Howard W. Clarke (June 12, 1929 – January 24, 2015) was an American classicist. He was latterly Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).

Education and career

Clarke graduated from the College of the Holy Cross (A.B., 1950) and Harvard University (MA, 1951; PhD, 1960). He was a Teaching Fellow at Harvard (1950–51), a sergeant in the Army Security Agency in Berlin (1953–56), Instructor in Classics, Boston University (1956–1958, 1959–1960); Assistant to Full Professor of Classics at Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, (1960–1969); and Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature UCSB (1969–1991). From 1993 he worked as a destination lecturer on cruise ships in the Mediterranean. He died on 24 January 2015 following a brief illness.