Died July 10, 2008
College: Berkeley
Widow: Mrs. Dorothy L. Clifford
7553 N Viale Di Buona Fortuna
Tucson, AZ 85718-7305
Joe Clifford, one of my roommates in Berkeley, was one of the most generous, good-natured and open-hearted people I ever met anywhere. He was the first real Westerner I ever got to know well and, for me, came to epitomize the best traits of that breed. When he left Yale after graduation he said he was never coming back to the East, nor Yale, and I don’t know that he ever did.
When he passed away in 2008, I learned in preparing his obituary for our class notes that he had remained faithful in his dedication to the outdoors and the envirmonment throughout a career that included work at the Arizona Game and Fish Department. I had nicknamed Joe “Field and Stream” among the roommates. I think he really didn’t mind.
—by Dan Simpson
Obituary:
CLIFFORD, Joseph E., passed away at the age of 68 on July 10, 2008. Joe and his family moved to Arizona from Minneapolis in 1949. An attorney, Joe was a graduate of Yale University and the University of Washington School of Law, and was proud to serve both the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. Through his achievements in the areas of water rights litigation and game and fish law, he has left a lasting legacy of environmental protection that future generations of Arizonans will appreciate for many years to come. In retirement, Joe and his wife moved to the southern border of the state where he pursued his passion for the culture and language of our close neighbors in Mexico. Continuing his years of community service, Joe gave his time to Hands Across the Border, a non-profit organization facilitating the education of children on both sides of the border. Joe is survived by his wife, Dorothy; his sons, Andrew, Matt and Ted; and his grandson, Ryan; and his sisters, Linda, Martha and Virginia. A memorial service will be held on Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. at Messinger Mortuary, 7601 E. Indian School Rd., in Scottsdale, AZ. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Hands Across the Border Foundation Inc. P.O. Box 903, Oracle, AZ 85623, or the American Lung Association of Arizona, 2819 E. Broadway, Tucson, AZ 85716.
Published in the Tucson Newspapers on 7/22/2008