Remembering Clarence Avant
Clarence Avant passed away earlier this month on Sunday, August 13 at his Beverly Hills home. He is remembered as a prolific music executive and film producer known affectionately as ‘The Black Godfather.’ In Clarence’s long history of philanthropy, we remember him as one of the founding investors in the Pacific Council on International Policy. It is in part due to his generosity that we continue to be a part of the Los Angeles community today.
"In 1995, when I was recruiting members and supporters for the new Pacific Council, an acquaintance suggested that I meet with Clarence Avant, a prominent executive in the music sector who I had met as members of a 1978 White House delegation to the Dominican Republic. When I told him the vision of the Pacific Council, Clarence asked me four unforgettably efficient questions that got right to the heart of it and that I have used since throughout the years: 'What's this all about? What does it add up to? What difference will it make? What do you want with a cat like me?' Clarence Avant was an extraordinary person, business executive, civic leader, and founding supporter of the Pacific Council. May his memory continue to be a blessing."
— Abe Lowenthal, Founding President and President Emeritus, Pacific Council
To learn more about Clarence from his early life in North Carolina to working in New York City, and eventually here in Los Angeles, you can read his Los Angeles Times obituary here: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2023-08-14/clarence-avant-obituary-dead
