Percy Barr was my father-in-law.
University of California: In Memoriam, April 1961
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University of California: In Memoriam, April 1961 |
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| 1897-1960 | |
| Professor | |
| Associate Forester in the Experiment Station |
Percy Munson Barr was born to Canadian parents in Watertown, Connecticut in 1897. Here lay the roots of a career of service to two nations.
He attended high school in British Columbia where he displayed early leanings toward law. His education was interrupted in 1915 while he served in the Canadian Infantry during World War I. He saw action in France and Belgium until early 1918 when he transferred to the Royal Air Force. In the Royal Air Force, he became a pilot and a lieutenant. He returned to civilian life in 1919 and worked during the summer with the British Columbia Forest Service where he discovered the interest that directed the course of his career. He graduated in forestry from the University of British Columbia in 1924. As an undergraduate, his efforts to enhance the position and strength of his alma mater gave early evidence of his devotion to an effectiveness in public service. He continued his education at Yale University where he received an M.A. degree in forestry in 1925 and a Ph.D. degree in 1929. In his careful preparation for a research career, his thoroughness and foresightedness placed him among the leaders of his profession.
From 1925 until 1932 he was engaged in research on the ecology of the spruce forests in British Columbia. His publications, during this period, concerning natural regeneration and the role of soil moisture in spruce silviculture, continue
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to be widely consulted today. In 1932 he was placed in charge of the Research Division of the British Columbia Forest Service. At this time he accepted a lectureship at the University of California, Berkeley, marking a turning point in his career and research interests. His talents as a teacher were quickly recognized. He was offered and accepted an appointment as Assistant Professor of Forestry in the fall of 1932. He became a full professor in 1947.
During his academic career, he broadened his interest in forest biology to include the economical and business aspects of forestry. Perhaps his greatest contribution to business forestry was his teaching. His published outlines of forest mensuration and forest management are the distilled essence of these central topics in forestry. A demanding instructor, he communicated his passion for organization and his insistence on precision and accuracy to even the more reluctant students.
Early in his association with the University, Dr. Barr assumed responsibility for the management and development of Blodgett Forest, the principal field experiment station of the School of Forestry. The time and interest which he devoted to this project for twenty years have provided the School with an increasingly valuable facility for research and teaching. The long-term experimental work which he initiated there will serve as a continuing monument to both Percy Barr, the man, and his concern for professional practice thoroughly grounded in research.
To Dr. Barr, World War II was more an opportunity for service than an interruption in his career. Foreseeing the inevitable involvement of the United States, he went on active duty as a captain in the United States Army Air Force in August, 1941. He was assigned to intelligence duty and served in Washington, North Africa, and Italy. By 1944 he was a colonel and Assistant Chief-of-Staff of the Intelligence Division
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of the Fifteenth Air Force. He was awarded the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star by the United States, the Croix de Guerre with Palm by France, and the Order of the British Empire. The University of British Columbia in 1945 also took note of his distinguished career and awarded him a Sc.D. degree, honoris causa. Upon his return to the University of California, his organizational abilities and the wide respect which he commanded among the faculty were recognized in a series of special assignments, beginning in 1947 with his appointment as Special Assistant to the President. These duties culminated in 1950 with his service as Chairman of the Committee on Courses and Instruction, Chairman of the Committee on Schedule, member of the Committee on Privilege and Tenure, Chairman of the Committee on Buildings and Campus Development, and chairman or member of three additional committees within the College of Agriculture. He served simultaneously as Chairman of the Berkeley Chapter and Vice-chairman of the Pacific Area Regional Advisory Council of the American Red Cross.
The slowly developing symptoms of Parkinson's disease forced his gradual retirement from this remarkable array of university and community services. Undaunted and unyielding, Dr. Barr concentrated his efforts on his teaching and his studies of the business aspects of forestry. In 1953 he inaugurated the first course in industrial forestry to be given in the United States.
With his wide knowledge of forestry operations in the United States and Canada combined with his ability to perceive the important, he came to occupy a special role in the School of Forestry. The twinkle in his eye, the quick bite of his humor, and his deep interest in the development of his profession never deserted him. During these days, this cheerful accommodation to the irksome problems of declining physical ability must have challenged and inspired the spirit
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of his students as effectively as his seminars challenged their intellects. Following one of his usual full days of work at his office, he died quietly in his sleep early in the morning of August 27, 1960.
After an earlier marriage and two children, Dr. Barr married Helen Adams, daughter of Professor Emeritus Frank Adams, in 1941. This marriage gave him four more fine children and the constant help of a devoted wife. He is survived by both families.
As students in his earlier classes and as his faculty colleagues in more recent years, we are grateful to Dr. Barr for many things. To us, as to all of his students, he contributed much in understanding of our field of work, in approaches to organizing tasks, and in encouragement of our development to the limits of our abilities. Above all, however, we will always remember and respect him for his unyielding will and courage in the face of mounting physical adversity. In a special but very real sense, Dr. Percy Barr's closing years were his greatest triumph.
H. J. Vaux R. N. Colwell J. A. Zivnuska
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