Jess Fellows Clarke Jr, 81, died January 30th at his home in Bradenton, Florida. Jess was born January 1, 1938 in Allentown, Pennsylvania and attended Penn State University where he earned a BS degree in 1959 in the field of forestry.

Jess was a family oriented, affable, perpetually optimistic man who was a voracious reader, avid traveler and passionate fan of rock and roll. In many ways his life and outlook was personified by his favorite song, the 1973 Lynyrd Skynyrd hit, Freebird. Extremely outgoing, Mr. Clarke claimed he could go to any airport in the country and meet someone he knew from his extensive travels.

Jess spent his early adult life as a sales and marketing person for various companies until embarking on his own in the late 1970’s when he started a number of small firms and partnerships specializing in marketing and advertising services.

In many ways a visionary, Jess saw the potential of natural health products early and founded Miracle of Aloe in 1983, a family run firm that has grown to become internationally known for its line of consumer health products based on organically-grown aloe vera. Over the years Jess enlisted the help of his parents, family and friends in creating many of the products the firm produces and remained active in the company up until his death.

Ultimately, Jess dedicated his life to introducing people to the natural healing powers of the aloe vera plant which he had first discovered as a child. Jess would often recount how his mother, Evelyn, had kept an aloe plant on the kitchen windowsill and would break open a leaf and spread the inner gel on young Jess’s scrapes and cuts as a natural healing agent. Towards that end, together with his siblings, Jess created The Aloe Institute, a non-profit organization committed to improving health and wellness globally.

Mr. Clarke is survived by his second wife, Anya; his three sons from his first marriage, Jess III, Curtis and Judd; his brother Robert and his two sisters, Ellen Fried and Jane Grace; and his six grandchildren, Avery, Rye, Hannah, Ethan, Heather and Caroline. A celebration of life service will be held at 4 pm on Friday, February 8, 2019 at Toale Brothers Funeral Home & Crematory - Colonial Chapel, 40 N. Orange Ave, Sarasota, FL 34236.