George Clark Conklin Jr.

On July 24th a few weeks before his 94thbirthday, George C. Conklin Jr. died peacefully in his sleep. A long time resident of Berkeley, California George moved to the bay area in the early 60's with his wife, Carol and his daughter, Karen. Karen passed almost a year before her father who mourned his daughter with strength and grace. George was a long time member of the United Church of Christ, a television producer, project director for the Worldwide Faith News of the National Council of Churches, a photo journalist, and an accomplished photographer perhaps best known for his iconic photo of Martin Luther King in 1964. George took other photos of King in earlier years. Other figures he captured include John Kennedy, Barak Obama, Bishop Tutu, Pete Seeger, Saul Alinsky , and Yassir Arafat. Several links to this obituary enumerate George’s accomplishments as a professor of media religious studies, and a proponent of social justice.

George Conklin is survived by his dear friends, Lois Hoy, Nick and Jane Razo, Cat Ricketts, former student, Stewart Hoover, best man and dear friend, Robert Polk, and son-n-law, Stephen Hulse So many others mourn the profound loss of George’s storied life.

George read the New York Times daily, scrutinized all news channels with a keen eye, tipped the gardener and the postman at Christmas and enjoyed his bangers and mash. He delivered laundry to Katherine Hepburn, once babysat Joan Baez’s kid and proudly collected rubber duckies. He enjoyed watching The Big Bang Theory with his daughter, loved trains, fire engines, Rachel Maddow, and chicken pot pies. His traditional birthday dinner was steak and home made Swedish Torte (Karen followed the family recipe to a T). During his last year he kept busy with his son-n-law, Stephen, watching many episodes of Father Brown and enduring movies like Dr. Zhivago and the Wizard of Oz. The last movie he watched from his hospital bed was Return of the Jedi. He described Return of the Jedi as , “Cheesy.” May George’s spirit live on through his photography and the love of his friends.

Links:

https://www.wfn.org/wfn-remembers-george-conklin

https://religionnews.com/2025/08/07/george-conklin-religion-communicator-known-for-mlk-photo-dies-at-93/

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