David Lytle Clark (26 September 1864 – 3 February 1939) was an Irish entrepreneur who founded the

D. L. Clark Company The D. L. Clark Company was founded in 1886 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, now part of Pittsburgh, by David L. Clark (1864–1939), an Irish-born candy salesman. In 1921, Clark Brothers Chewing Gum Company was spun off as a separate corporation. ...

confectioners in 1886 in

Allegheny, Pennsylvania Allegheny City was a municipality that existed in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1788 until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. It was located north across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh, with its southwest border formed by ...

, now part of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. He was born in

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

, Ireland, the son of Samuel and Jane Clark. He had come to the U.S. with his family from Ireland when he was eight years old, and educated in the public schools. He began making candy in a one-room location in Allegheny City at the age of 19, and later expanded into making gum when learning in 1886 of a new approach using

chicle Chicle () is a natural gum traditionally used in making chewing gum and other products. It is collected from several species of Mesoamerican trees in the genus ''Manilkara'', including '' M. zapota'', '' M. chicle'', '' M. staminodella'', and '' ...

. This he would use bright food coloring and flavor it with extracts of woodland leaves he had chewed as a boy. He is best known for his creation of the D. L. Clark Company, a confectionary, and for creating some of its best known products, including the

Clark bar The Clark Bar is a candy bar consisting of a crispy peanut butter/spun taffy core (originally with a caramel center) and coated in milk chocolate. It was the first American "combination" candy bar to achieve nationwide success. Two similar candy ...

and the

Zagnut Zagnut is a candy bar produced and sold in the United States. Its main ingredients are peanut butter and toasted coconut. History The Zagnut bar was launched in 1930, by the D. L. Clark Company of western Pennsylvania, which also made the Clar ...

, as well as for its spinoff, the Clark Chewing Gum Company with its

Clark's Teaberry Clark's Teaberry is a brand of chewing gum. The D. L. Clark Company of Pittsburgh's north side purchased the patent for it from Charles Burke, who experimented with various flavors of chewing gum in the basement of 533 McClintock Ave, Pittsburgh ...

gum. Clark also served as president of several additional candy companies in the region: the

Youngstown Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, which ...

Candy Company,

Steubenville Steubenville is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Ohio River 33 miles west of Pittsburgh, it had a population of 18,161 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The city's name is deri ...

's LaBelle Candy Company,

McKeesport McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated at the confluence of the Monongahela River, Monongahela and Youghiogheny River, Youghiogheny rivers and within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population ...

's Jewell Candy Company, and the Fayette Candy Company of Uniontown, also being co-owner of the

Beaver Falls Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

Model Candy Company. He would also serve as director of McKeesport's First National Bank. He was also a

freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. At the time of his death, in his sleep of heart disease in 1939, he was called 'Pittsburgh's candy king'. He married twice, first to Martha Snitger, the mother of his 13 children, of which 6 sons and 6 daughters survived him. Following Martha's death, he would remarry to her sister, Carrie Snitger. His children all shared in inheriting the D. L. Clark Company, before selling it in 1955 to

Beatrice Foods Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food processing company founded in 1894. In 1987, its international food operations were sold to Reginald Lewis, a corporate attorney, creating TLC Beatrice International, after which the majority of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, David L. 1864 births 1939 deaths 19th-century Irish businesspeople Businesspeople in confectionery Burials at Homewood Cemetery People from Pittsburgh American Freemasons Irish emigrants (before 1923) to the United States