Clare Spark Loeb (née Spark), born in 1937 in New York City, is the mother of Daniel Loeb. Daughter of Tumin Spark and Betty Taubes, she earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1958. She worked as a radio producer for KPFK in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s, creating art programs and conducting interviews with artists, curators, and intellectuals. She moderated panels on topics such as art and ecology, Los Angeles architecture, and discussions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), including the 'Sour Apple Tree' series. As an independent scholar and historian, she authored Hunting Captain Ahab: Psychological Warfare and the Melville Revival and contributed articles on history and culture. She was married to Ronald M. Loeb, a Los Angeles attorney, and they had three children. She resided in Santa Monica Canyon and later Pacific Palisades, California.