The AEMMDept is deeply saddened by the loss of faculty member Clarke Greene. Greene, 76, died December 23, 2005 at Ruth Hospice in Milwaukee, after a brief struggle with cancer.

     Greene started teaching at Columbia in the early 1990s, instructing classes on entrepreneurship, management, and leadership. Drawing from his background in the dairy industry, Greene was able to share his personal entrepreneurial experiences, and translate them to the arts. 

     Greene, a fourth generation dairy farmer, grew up on his family’s dairy farm in Genesee Depot, a rural suburb of Milwaukee, at the time the largest independently owned dairy business in Wisconsin. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in labor economics, and serving as an Army officer during the Korean War, Greene returned to the family dairy business as Vice President and General Manager of Brook Hill Farms, Inc. A master of crisis management and marketing milk products, Greene chose to work in the dairy production plant on Chicago’s Northwest side, where he marketed yogurt and Brook Hill’s signature baby formula. Later, he became a consultant to start-up companies.

     However, it was when Greene started teaching at Columbia that he found his true calling. “His focus was really on small-business administration and entrepreneurship,” said his son, Clay, “teaching budding artists how to be good business people and not be starving artists, if they could avoid it.” In 2004, Greene earned tenure at Columbia. During that same year, he co-authored the book Arts Entrepreneurship: The Business of the Arts, with fellow faculty member Joseph Roberts. “I miss Clarke, and his ability to be a good sounding board for everything,” says Roberts. “He understood entrepreneurship and he really cared about the field. That was so evident when he advised his students.” J. Dennis Rich, Chair of the Arts, Entertainment and Media Management Department, said, “Clarke was a valuable member of this faculty and a dear friend.  His presence will be greatly missed.”

     On April 26, Greene’s friends at Columbia held a well-attended memorial service to honor their colleague. Additional services will be held in early summer in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin.

     Greene’s family is creating a Clarke Greene Scholarship Fund. Contributions may be made in care of the Arts, Entertainment and Media Management Department, Attn: Joe Roberts.