Clarence Williams spent a lifetime at WRAL-TV, starting at the station as a high school trainee in 1966. After a stint in the Army in the early 1970s, Williams returned, and worked for another 45 years, most of them as a director/producer. When he retired in 2015, he was the longest serving employee in Capitol Broadcasting Company history. He passed away on Sunday at the age of 75.
Williams was a veteran, husband, father and foster father, grandfather and a mentor to many.
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Colleagues over the decades describe Williams as compassionate, tough, talented, humble, and one who embodied the value of community service in his work and his personal life.
Loretta Harper-Arnold, who was corporate community relations director at CBC, called Williams "CBC's best community ambassador."
She remembered, "With open arms, he welcomes youth, military and non-profit groups to our station for tours and treats them like royalty. Never does he even pause when asked to organize station presentations to outside organizations. His attitude is one of graciousness and reflects genuine excitement to share our station’s history and present-day accomplishments with those in our community."
When he retired, Williams cited a desire to spend more time on his community work, including with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle.
In the newsroom, Williams was known for his wide smile and sense of style -- always in a bow tie, regularly sporting a fedora. Younger staffers emulated and imitated his pulled-together look.
He trained and mentored generations of WRAL journalists, organized job shadow opportunities for middle and high school students and gave hundreds of tours of the station.
Former WRAL-TV Vice President and General Manager Steve Hammel said, "He is involved in so much more than his position in the newsroom. He is passionate about the values and virtues of CBC. He exhibits that with arranging outside visits with significant organizations and then shows his passion when those visitors get here."
Williams was born in Raleigh, attended high school in both the Bronx and Raleigh's John W. Ligon High School. He graduated from St. Augustine's University (then St. Augustine's College) and did studies at Shaw and Fayetteville State universities.