Hector M. Clark was born in Walton, England in 1937. He received his bachelors of science in metallurgy from the University of Manchester in 1960 and his doctorate in engineering from the University of London in 1966.

Thereafter Clark's career took him to a variety of places around the world. From 1966-1968 he was a research associate in metallurgy and mining at the University of Illinois - Urbana. From 1968-1971 he was an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, and from 1971-1976 he taught the first undergraduates in mechanical engineering at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology.

From 1976-1978 Clark was department head for mining and metallurgy at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia. He then went to the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago, where he was a senior lecturer in chemical engineering from 1978-1981.

In 1981 Clark returned to the United States to join the University of Kansas' faculty as associate professor in mechanical engineering. He held this position until his retirement in 1998. Clark's research and professional interests lay in metal fatigue and wear on materials; application of materials in design; and developing writing skills in engineering students.

Clark was married to Borbola Sziegt Clark. They had three children, Klara, Macell, and Erika.