Douglass Burns Clarke was born in Montreal on October 13, 1907. He married Dorothy Adams and had two children, Barbara and Frederick. D.B. Clarke died in 1979. He graduated from Sir George Williams College as a member of the Guinea Pig Graduating Class of 1937, so-called because it was the first graduating class the College produced. In 1932, he joined the teaching staff of the College as a lecturer, and he accepted a full-time position in English and Fine Arts after his graduation. He loved theatre and from 1932 to 1941 he was a director of the Playmakers Workshop of Sir George Williams College. He founded the Georgiantics musical revue. In 1942 he became the production manager for the Lakeshore Summer Theatre and was involved with the Montreal Repertory Theatre, among others. He was appointed acting registrar of Sir George Williams in 1943, and in 1946 he was appointed registrar. In 1956 he was appointed vice-principal and stayed on as registrar until 1962. From 1967 to 1968 he was vice-principal academic. In 1968 he was appointed acting principal and vice-chancellor. He retired in 1969. He wrote a history of Sir George Williams in the period following that covered by Henry F. Hall in The Georgian Spirit: The Story of Sir George Williams University. Douglass Clarke's work, published in 1976 was entitled Decades of Decisions: Sir George Williams University, 1952-53 to 1972-73. He influenced the university to welcome the arts and increased its importance in the cultural life of Montreal. The D.B. Clarke Theatre in the Hall Building is named in his memory.