Coworkers remember Matthew "Matty" Clark

OGDEN, N.Y. (WHEC) — He went by “Matty,” and he died on the Fourth of July.

It happened when a car driven by his wife, Jennie Clark, collided with a telephone pole on Colby Street near Union Street in Ogden. His three daughters – ages 13, 11, and 6 – were also in the car with the couple, but were not hurt.

Up until his death, Matty was a food service assistant at Wegmans in Brockport. News10NBC spoke with several of Matty’s coworkers, and each of them specifically mentioned what a great sense of humor he had.

"He was always joking around, he was really friendly,” said Sophia Triassi, who works in the Wegmans pizza department. “You could connect with him super easily."

"Bigger than life personality. Very funny, always trying to make people laugh. Always cracking jokes," said Liz Bonacquisti, who was Matty’s supervisor at Wegmans two years ago. She recalls one particularly funny memory the two of them shared on the job.

"We one time had a competition to see who could cut a ten-pound bag of onions quicker. And so he’s chopping the onions crying and he’s like ‘I’m gonna beat you, I’m gonna beat you.’ And he did! His knife skills were unbelievable," said Bonacquisti.

Before coming to Brockport Wegmans, Matty was a sous chef at the Sudbury Inn in Bethel, Maine. Outside of his family, his coworkers say food was his passion in life.

”He’s a passionate person. Whether it was about his family, or food, or friends he was passionate,” said Bonacquisti. ”Very passionate about food. That was, you know, other than his kids that was the next thing, was cooking, and making people happy through that.”

While all of the coworkers News10NBC spoke to mentioned his outgoing personality and sense of humor, they didn’t know much about his home life. They said he was a dedicated father.

"He loved to talk about his daughters; his kids were his life," said Tommy Thurley, another coworker of Matty’s from Wegmans. "I remember telling him when I was gonna be a father, like the light in his eyes telling me that it’s like the best thing in the world.”

But his coworkers say he didn’t talk much about his wife, Jennie Clark, who is charged with his murder.

"I never heard anything about his wife especially …I don’t know much about it," said Triassi. “He didn’t seem upset or like unhappy."

According to his obituary on the funeral home website, Clark’s family will receive friends on Tuesday between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Fowler Funeral Home, 340 West Avenue in Brockport. Clark’s funeral service will be held privately. An education fund is being established for Clark’s daughters. If interested, donations addressed to Matthew Clark Girls Education Fund can be mailed to the Fowler Funeral Home.

In addition to second degree murder, Jennie Clark is also charged with drunk driving, speeding, and endangering the welfare of a child. She is being held in the Monroe County Jail on a $200,000 cash bail.