Larry Clarke was born in London in 1925 and moved to Canada in 1939 after attending Eton College. After graduating from Trinity College School and serving as a Technician in the Royal Canadian Navy during the second world war, he earned a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1949. He later worked in the Canadian Department of Defense and at de Havilland Aircraft before founding SPAR Aerospace and leading its acquisition from de Havilland in 1967.