In Memoriam: Benjamin Edwin “Ed” Clement Jr. (1949-2023)

Benjamin Edwin “Ed” Clement Jr., founder of the Ben E. Clement Mineral Museum in Marion, Kentucky, was born 15 May 1949 and passed away 2 February 2023. The museum was the result of Ed and his sisters following their father’s wishes that the collection not be sold but become a museum. The collection of tens of thousands of minerals was stored in the house, outbuildings, and the yard before Ben E. Clement Sr.’s passing in 1980. It took until 1991 before a board of directors was established and the building was procured.

The museum opened in May 1997 with the finest specimens from the Illinois-Kentucky fluorspar district on display. Ben Sr. had traded with mine managers and had also obtained an exceptional collection of fluorescent minerals from New Jersey’s Franklin–Sterling Hill mines. Ed was relentless in keeping the museum up and running, including selecting duplicate minerals—“legacy specimens”—to sell and recording elderly miners who recalled their lives and careers in the fluorite mines. He was tireless in all aspects of the museum’s operations, from working behind the scenes to greeting the general public, geologists, and students visiting the museum.

Ed Clement holding a fluorite specimen from the Illinois-Kentucky fluorspar district and standing in front of a photo of his father, Ed Clement Sr.

David Sorrells photo.

Ed is survived by his wife of forty-six years, Nancy Murray Clement; daughters Andrea D. Clement and Christen Ringle (Joe); and son Ben E. Clement III; sister Anne Clement; seven grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. His legacy is one of the best mineral museums focusing on a mining district in the United States.

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Alan Goldstein

Alan Goldstein, a longtime mineral and fossil collector, is the naturalist and paleontologist at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.