Buffalo News, January 9, 2009, Friday

Copyright 2009 The Buffalo News

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Buffalo News (New York)

January 9, 2009, Friday

CENTRAL EDITION

HEADLINE: Donald T. Barry, Courier-Express reporter and editor;

April 29, 1927 -- Jan. 8, 2009

BODY:

Donald T. Barry of the City of Tonawanda, an editor at the Buffalo Courier-Express and the Buffalo Business Journal, died Thursday in the Center for Hospice & Palliative Care, Cheektowaga, after a brief illness. He was 81.

Born in Newark, N.J., he was a Navy veteran of World War II and earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Long Island University in 1952. In the early 1980s, he attended the Cornell University Industrial/Labor Relations School.

Mr. Barry's first job as a reporter was for the Wellsville Reporter. He then spent four years at the Bradford (Pa.) Era, where he was a reporter and columnist. After a brief stint as a reporter with the Tonawanda News, he joined the Courier-Express as a reporter in 1957.

He became the Courier's assistant metropolitan editor in 1962 and metropolitan editor in 1973. He was assistant managing editor for the paper from 1980 until it closed in 1982.

After serving as editor-in-chief at the Buffalo Business Journal in 1984 and 1985, he became a freelance journalist, writing numerous articles and columns for newspapers and magazines.

An avid photographer, he also operated Frames by Barry, a custom picture framing shop, from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s in the City of Tonawanda. He was one of about a dozen Certified Picture Framers in New York State.

He won numerous regional and state journalism awards. He also was honored with the George Polk Memorial Award and the National American Legion Award.

He was a member of Lorenzo Burrows Post 78, American Legion; St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church; and the Tonawanda Library Board. He also was a dedicated supporter of the University at Buffalo and its sports programs.

Surviving are his wife of 56 years, the former Sylvia Gustavson; three sons, David, John and James; four daughters, Laura Perillo, Patricia Mulcahy, Barbara Schulz and Susan Schulz; a brother, Laurence; and two sisters, Helen Siragusa and Marilyn Sipple.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 10 a.m. Monday in St. Francis of Assisi Chapel, 70 Adam St., City of Tonawanda.

[ANDERSON]

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LOAD-DATE: January 10, 2009