Ruth A. Clark; Sixth Woman to Become CPA in California

Ruth A. Clark, 94, the sixth woman to become a certified public accountant in the state of California. The pioneering Miss Clark also served as president of the American Woman’s Society of Certified Public Accountants in 1948 and 1949. She was also active in the state and Los Angeles organizations of accountants, which honored her in 1977, 1980 and 1983 for her long service. She spent her entire 44-year career working for Lyon Van and Storage Co., rising from bookkeeper to treasurer and chief financial officer. Brought up in Scottsdale, Pa., Miss Clark studied at a state teacher’s college to teach commercial subjects in high school. When the family moved to Los Angeles, she went along and took a job as secretary in an accounting firm. Her employers soon learned that she had accounting ability and urged her to become a CPA, an unusual profession for a woman in the 1920s. On Jan. 6 in Santa Monica.