Bergen County-native was veteran prosecutor
Eleanor J. Clark Eleanor J. Clark, a Harrington Park-native and veteran prosecutor who helped win the conviction of mass murderer John List, died Friday. She was 73.
The cause was spinocerebellar ataxia, a rare disease, according to her family. A longtime Ridgewood resident, Clark recently relocated to California from Manhattan to be near her grandchildren. She died in El Cerrito, Calif.
While serving as an assistant Union County prosecutor, Clark successfully prosecuted List for fatally shooting his wife, mother and three children at their Westfield mansion in 1971.
List was a fugitive for nearly two decades until an "America's Most Wanted" viewer tip led to his arrest. He was convicted of five counts of first degree murder and died in prison while serving a life sentence.
At the trial in Elizabeth in 1990, Clark said List "acted as a hideous angel of death, weighing the options right up until the night before, killing his family."
A crowd cheered as Clark emerged from the Union County Courthouse after the verdict, news reports at the time said.
Speaking to reporters, Clark said "justice was not denied because of the delay," in prosecution.
Clark also served as a New York State Special Deputy Assistant Attorney General in Manhattan, where she handled Medicaid Fraud cases.
She retired from public service in 2005.
Clark co-founded Alternatives to Domestic Violence, formed in the mid-1970s in Bergen County.
Before her career as a prosecutor, Clark worked as a Wall Street securities analyst, authored three nonfiction books, including a Bob Hope biography, and was a realtor in Ridgewood.
Clark was born in Englewood, graduated from St. Cecilia's High School in 1960 and the then-Montclair State College in 1964, where she majored in English. She earned her juris doctorate from Pace University Law School at Purchase, New York.
She is survived by husband, Patrick, 74, her daughter, Caitlin Erice Lliro, 45, son-in-law, Omar Erice Lliro, 48, two grandchildren and a sister, Elizabeth Lewis, 70, of San Francisco.
The Clark family requested donations to the National Ataxia Foundation of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook.