In Memoriam: HARRY HILLIARD CLENDENIN, III

HARRY HILLIARD CLENDENIN, III

January 6, 1945 – August 26, 2022

Harry Hilliard Clendenin, III, age 77, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on August 27, 2022.

Harry was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and grew up in Greensboro.  He was a graduate of Walter Hines Page Senior High School in Greensboro, and graduated from North Carolina State University with a degree in Economics, where he joined Kappa Alpha Order.  At Wake Forest University Law School he was the Associate Editor of the Wake Forest Law Review, and graduated with a J.D. degree with Honors, 

Harry was admitted to the North Carolina Bar in 1970 and practiced with the Greensboro firm of Smith, Moore, Smith, Schell and Hunter until 1975, when he became a partner in the firm of Clifford, Clendenin & O’Hale, LLP.  For over forty-seven years, his practice was concentrated in the areas of workers’ compensation and personal injury law.  Harry was a certified mediator and served the public in this capacity for nearly twenty years.  

Harry served as Chair, Vice-Chair, and Council Member of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the North Carolina Bar Association.  He previously served as Chair of the Section’s Membership Committee, and was the primary author of the NCBA’s original public service pamphlet titled “Workers’ Compensation: What To Do In Case Of An On-The-Job Injury”.  He was also a former Council Member of the NCBA Litigation Section; served as Chair of that Section’s Products Liability Committee; and served on the NCBA Task Force on Dispute Resolution.  He was a former Chair of the NCBA Young Lawyers’ Section.

Harry Clendenin was a Sustaining Member of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice; served as a member of the Workers’ Compensation Section’s Executive Committee; and was a former member of the NCAJ’s Membership Committee.  He was a former President of the Young Lawyers’ Section of the Greensboro Bar Association, and former Co-Chair of the Membership and Professional Relations Committee of the Greensboro Bar Association. 

Harry served as a Member of the Board of Directors of Kids’ Chance of North Carolina, Inc., which awards scholarship funds to the children of catastrophically injured or deceased North Carolina workers.  He also coached the Peaches ‘N Cream girls’ soccer team, and youth baseball teams at all age levels.  He served as a Junior Varsity coach with the Page Pirates High School baseball program for many years.

Harry was preceded in death by his parents, Harry H. Clendenin, Jr. and Peggy Clendenin; his first wife, Katherine Poer Clendenin; and his daughter, Anne Rives Clendenin.  Harry is survived by his second wife, Kelly Kiernan Clendenin; daughter, Katherine Clendenin Wagner (Rich); son, Harry H. Clendenin IV (Melissa); and grandchildren, Scott Reynolds, Matthew Reynolds, Claire Wagner, and Jackson Clendenin.