Over a 50+ year career in the collision industry, multi-shop owner later led CREF and CAPA.
Clark Plucinski, a collision repair industry veteran who spent five decades advocating for workforce development and education, passed away Nov. 29, after a long battle with cancer. He was 75.
Clark Plucinski passed away Nov. 29.
Plucinski served as executive director of the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) from 2012 until his retirement in 2020. He also served as chairman and executive director of the Certified Automotive Parts Association (CAPA).
Born June 16, 1950, in Washington, D.C., Plucinski served in the U.S. Navy and received an honorable discharge in 1973. He earned an associate degree from Montgomery College and began a 50+ year career in the collision repair industry.
Plucinski began his collision repair career in 1970 as a technician at a General Motors dealership. He co-owned and served as president of BCP Auto Body Inc., a four-location collision repair business in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, from 1973 to 1996.
He was a co-founder of True2Form Collision Repairs and served as executive vice president, helping build a multi-state network of collision repair facilities. True2Form was subsequently acquired by the Boyd Group, where Plucinski served as vice president of sales at Gerber Collision & Glass.
Throughout his career, Plucinski held board positions with CREF, CAPA, I-CAR and the ASA Collision Division Committee. He also served as president of the Washington Metropolitan Auto Body Association.
In 2018, Plucinski received I-CAR’s Chairman’s Award, which recognizes individuals whose contributions have been significant or extraordinary.
Other honors included the I-CAR Founder’s Award, ASA Special Achievement Award and being named Collision Shop Executive of the Year for 1996 by BodyShop Business.
Plucinski was inducted in the Hall of Eagles, the collision industry’s Hall of Fame, in 1993.
Plucinski is survived by his wife of 53 years, Karen; daughter Kellie; son Craig and daughter-in-law Lizzie; grandchildren Miller and Cameron; sister-in-law Kristie Hughes; brothers-in-law Jeff Hughes, Knowles “Les” Jones, Kenney Jones and Guy Poirier; and his business partner of 50 years, Rick Paukstitus.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Clarence Walter “Dutch” and Julia Rinker Plucinski; siblings John McKenzie, Mary Murphy and Judy Harris; and brother-in-law Bill Harris.
A funeral Mass will be held at 1 p.m. Jan. 9, 2026, at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Rockville, Maryland, followed by a reception from 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Manor Country Club in Rockville.
More information on services is available online.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Collision Repair Education Foundation or All For Recovery.