Malcolm Clarke was born on 1 April 1943 and died on 5 April 2024. He read Law at St John’s College Cambridge; then, after short stints at the Institut de droit comparé, Paris, Fitzwilliam College and the National University of Singapore, he returned to Cambridge in 1970, serving continuously after that as a Fellow of St John’s and a member of the Faculty of Law, latterly as Professor of Commercial Contract Law. He retired in 2010. An early riser and hard worker, he was for many years the leading commercial lawyer in Cambridge, known for his wide reading, solid common sense and sheer decency. He taught many who went on to become themselves leading lawyers in academe, practice and on the Bench. This was accompanied by a large volume of publications, mainly alone but also with others, his books beginning with the comparative Legal Aspects of the Hague Rules (1976) and ranging over a variety of areas of transport and commercial and contract law. He was pre-eminent as an insurance lawyer. On its publication in 1989, his Law of Insurance Contracts immediately established itself as a leading practitioner work, and continues to this day as a standard point of reference. His contribution to the world of commercial law both overtly and behind the scenes (he was a valuable member of the editorial board of LMCLQ) has been substantial, significant and enduring.