John Clark Unkovic

John Clark Unkovic died at age 78 at Montefiore Hospital in Pittsburgh on Wednesday August 10, 2022 after complications due to a stroke.  He was loved by many for his intelligence, wisdom, generosity, kindness, and for being so much fun to be with.John was born in 1943 to Nicholas Unkovic and Mary Clark Unkovic.  He grew up in Pittsburgh and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1961 and from Harvard University in 1965. He received a diploma in Economics from St. Edmund Hall at Oxford University in England in 1966, after which he studied law at the University of Michigan, receiving a JD degree in 1970. In 1970 and 1971, he traveled to Papua New Guinea as a Fulbright Fellow where he spent a year studying tribal law.

After returning from New Guinea, he joined the law firm of Reed Smith as an attorney in 1971, became a partner and eventually Reed Smith’s general counsel.  Several colleagues commented on his efforts to appear curmudgeonly while in fact being kind and generous and always decent to others.  One wrote, “How wonderful he was as a mentor to me and to many other lawyers who came under his wing.”

He served on the Board of Directors of MSA Safety Corporation for almost a dozen years.  Colleagues from those days commented that he showed great personal interest in the company, particularly in its people and in its mission.

On March 15, 1980, John married Mary “Missy” Marks, and on July 10, 1981, their daughter Rachel Clark Unkovic was born. 

John loved sports. At both Exeter and Harvard he was a coxswain on junior varsity and varsity crew teams.  In 1965, in his senior year at Harvard, he coxed the undefeated 1965 varsity eights, which won the prestigious Lucerne (Switzerland) International Regatta and was featured on the June 28, 1965 cover of Sports Illustrated.  After college, sports and mountaineering continued to be a large part of his life. In the 1970’s he climbed mountains both in the Himalayas and in Peru.  He was a member of a squash group that he loved, and he played weekly for many years.

Friends and family remember John as a loving husband and father and an absolutely loyal friend. A number of friends commented that he was one of a kind, a unique, interesting, wise, intelligent, humorous and colorful character who will be fondly remembered and seriously missed.  He was also a defender of those who needed help, whether an elderly aunt who wanted company, or a young person who had found themselves in trouble.

He loved team sports, crossword puzzles, babies, Boyd and Blair, doo wop, Weejuns, 40-year old Polo shirts, and most of all, his family and friends. 

He is predeceased by his parents, his sister Connie, and his granddaughter Ruthie Mae Unkovic. He is survived by his loving wife Missy, his daughter Rachel, and his siblings Madelon, Christine, and Nick, as well as numerous nieces and nephews, great nieces and great nephews.

The family will hold a private burial, and a service celebrating him will be held later in the fall. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in his name to Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

Arrangements by John A. Freyvogel Sons, Inc. (freyvogelfuneralhome.com)

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