Born: 08/30/1933
New Haven, Ct.
Died: 05/07/2026
Greensboro, Vt.
Details of service:
Services will be held at the end of July in Greensboro.
Online condolences are welcomed at: northernvermontfuneralservice.com
Dr. Clive Gray, of Greensboro, Vermont, died at home on May 7, 2026. He was 92.
Born August 30, 1933, in New Haven, Connecticut, to Philip and Margaret (Peg) Gray, Clive’s connection to Greensboro began in early childhood through his mother’s family and became a lifelong attachment. He retired there in 2002.
Clive spent his early years in Madison, Wisconsin, and New Canaan, Connecticut, before attending the University of Chicago, where he earned a master’s degree in political science and served as student body president. In 1955, he was elected international vice president of the U.S. National Student Association.
Through that role, he worked abroad in programs later revealed to have been funded by the CIA, aimed at supporting student organizations in developing countries. From 1957 to 1958, he was based at Delhi University and traveled widely in South and Southeast Asia. (Afterwards, Clive chose to leave that role as he realized their policy conflicted with his personal political morals).
His experiences in India led him to economics, which he studied at Harvard from 1958 to 1961. He went on to work with USAID in Nigeria and served as an agricultural adviser to Kenya’s Ministry of Economic Development. In 1968, he joined the Harvard Institute for International Development, leading advisory teams in Colombia, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Morocco.
Clive met Ethne Bertram, the mother of his three children, in South Africa when they were 16 and 17 years old at an interracial work camp sponsored by the World Council of Churches. Together he and Ethne worked to champion social justice against apartheid and continued to live accordingly. Clive married Ethne in London in 1959; and after living in many different countries as a family, their marriage ended in 1987. Clive & Ethne’s three kids are: Auriel, Megan, and Ethan, all of whom inherited their love of nature and wild forests. In 2010, he married Nancy Davis Hill, widow of his close friend Lewis Hill.
Over his lifetime, Clive lived in or visited 100 countries, primarily for his work. He taught economic policy in Spanish, Indonesian, and French, and also spoke German, Norwegian, and Russian.
In later years, he devoted himself to land conservation in Greensboro. He chaired the Barr Hill Stewardship Committee, served on The Nature Conservancy’s Vermont board, and led the Greensboro Land Trust for two decades. He was also active in the Greensboro Conservation Commission, Greensboro United Church of Christ, Orleans County Democratic Committee, and Greensboro Historical Society. In 2002, he received the Greensboro Award.
Clive loved the outdoors, especially bushwhacking, fishing, and camping at Long Pond, a landscape he worked to protect. He also enjoyed welcoming visitors from around the world to his family’s cottage on Caspian Lake.
He was predeceased by his brothers Sherrard and Philip Jr. He is survived by his wife Nancy; his children Auriel (Adrian) Ivakhiv-Gray, Megan Paterson-Brown (Willy), and Ethan (Sue); his grandchildren Zoryan, Finlay, and Diego; his great-grandson Xander; his siblings Harold (BJ), Nancy Keyes, and Ronna (Les) Pearlstein; his step-sister Pat Bidlake; and many extended family members.
Donations in Clive’s memory may be made to the Greensboro Land Trust, Greensboro Historical Society, or Greensboro United Church of Christ.
