Judge Bruce A. Clark of Ventura County Superior Court retired on Jan. 4 after 30 years on the bench. He's the longest serving judge in the history of Ventura County.

Clark was elected to municipal court in 1978, and served as its presiding judge in 1984, 1992 and 1993.

He became a Superior Court judge on June 10, 1998, upon unification of the Superior and municipal courts.

He served as the Superior Court assistant presiding judge from 1998 through 2000, and also served as the Superior Court presiding judge from 2001 through 2004.

As Superior Court presiding judge, he led the court through the last state fiscal crisis, negotiations with the county to build the juvenile courthouse and the court becoming its own employer. Clark also had a lead role for the court in developing the California Case Management System.

Clark's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the UC Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law.

Before his election to the municipal court bench, Clark was a deputy district attorney with the Ventura County district attorney's office from 1969 to 1976, and chief trial deputy district attorney from 1976 to 1978.