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Former MU head John Barker dies
John G. Barker, President of Marshall University from 1971-74, has died in St. Paul's Hospital in Dallas at the age of 83.
Purchase this photoHUNTINGTON -- John G. Barker, president of Marshall University during a time of national and local upheaval, has died in St. Paul's Hospital in Dallas at the age of 83.
Heading up the university from 1971 to 1974, Barker inherited a school still reeling from the nation's worst sports air disaster, which wiped out a football team, coaching staff and a number of boosters which included a number of Huntington physicians and business leaders.
According to the Wichita Falls, Texas, Times Record News, Barker died July 1 before heart surgery in Dallas. The article continued, stating Barker had heart valve replacement and three bypasses in November 2008.
Dr. Alan Gould, executive director of Marshall University's John Deaver Drinko Academy for American Political Institutions and Civic Culture, was a history professor at Marshall during Barker's time as president.
"He was president during a great time of civil unrest in this country," Gould said of Barker. "It was difficult to run an institution at that time, especially one that was underfunded as Marshall University was when he became president in 1971.
"He did improve the libraries at Marshall University," Gould said. "But he was president during a time of controversies and discontent."
The school was on academic probation, a plane crash had decimated the football team and coaching staff in addition to killing a number of prominent Huntington physicians and business leaders, and declining enrollment was taking a toll on available funding.
In the 1973 State of the University address, Barker warned of a funding crisis as student enrollment declined.
"No public institution has been able to achieve distinction through the use of public moneys alone," Barker said at the time.
Discussing the need to raise private funds for colleges and universities, he continued, saying, "There is insufficient (money) left over for other purposes, for experimentation, innovation and occasional quick action where necessary."
One of 15 children, Barker understood the importance of higher education. He dropped out of high school at age 15, but after a stint in the Army during World War II, he completed school and earned a Biology degree from Concord College in West Virginia.
Continuing his education, Barker received a Master's degree in Zoology from the University of Maryland in 1953 and began teaching at Radford College, where he became Vice President from 1965 to 1968.
By 1957, with fellowships from the National Science Foundation, he earned a Ph.D. in entomology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
His 1973 biography at The Herald-Dispatch notes his primary goal at Marshall was to bring the school to the place it would be removed from private probation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary School, a designation Marshall held since 1969.
That was accomplished in July, 1973.
Barker left Marshall in 1974 to head Midwestern State University at Wichita Falls, Texas, where he served until 1980. In 1980, he left higher education and began a new career as an investment broker with A.G. Edwards and Sons.
A memorial service for Barker was held on Monday, July 6.
He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Maxine, and two daughters, Kris Gossom and Adrienne Barker Dodson.
