Barry Dean Valentine

Dr. Barry Dean Valentine passed away peacefully in his home in Columbus, Ohio on July 1st, 2018. He was born to the late Herbert Irwin Valentine and Helen Lachmann Valentine in New York City on June 6, 1924.

Barry spent his childhood in New York City and at an early age was introduced to the world of insects during a summer at Camp Kinderhook. The study of insects, amphibians, and reptiles were to become his passions for the rest of his life. In his first job when he was 14, Barry pinned insects at the Museum of Natural History in New York. In 1942, he graduated from Friends Seminary and started his education at Cornell University. On the 4th of November, he enrolled in ROTC and in April of the next year was stationed in the South Pacific. After three years active service in the Ohio Army National Guard 37th Infantry Division Medical Detachment, Barry was given an honorable discharge.

Upon returning to the States, Barry continued his schoolwork at Cornell until 1948 when followed his mentor and friend, the late Dr. Ralph Chermock, to the University of Alabama. There he completed his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Zoology in 1951 and 1953. It was while he was attending the University of Alabama that he met and fell in love with Buena Stubblefield, the woman who was to become is lifelong partner. They married on June 14th, 1953.

In 1955, after a brief stint taking graduate courses and working as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University, Barry and his wife moved to the University of Southern Mississippi where he taught a number of undergraduate classes. Two years later, they returned to Cornell University where Barry received his PhD in Entomology in 1960. In the same year, Barry and Buena's first child, Susan, was born. A year and a half later, they moved to Columbus where Barry was offered a job teaching at the Ohio State University. Their second child, Nancy, was born soon thereafter. Barry remained at OSU becoming a tenured professor and taught in both the Departments of Entomology and Biology and during a number of summers at OSU's Stone Lab for almost 30 years until he retired in 1988. His devotion to teaching was felt deeply by his students, and he was nominated repeatedly for OSU's Best Teacher Award.

Barry was also committed to broadening the knowledge base in his areas of expertise and published numerous scientific papers and articles and contributed to a number of books. Due to his encyclopedic knowledge and extensive insect collections created from his many trips in the US, Africa, Central America, Europe and parts of South America, Barry was widely recognized as the leading world expert in his field. In 1979, as a result of his contributions to the field of entomology, teaching, and exploration, he was elected a member of The Explorers Club. Prior to his passing, to enable and promote learning, Barry donated his entire life's work on Anthribids including specimens and library to the Smithsonian Museum. His other collections including the world insects, clams, salamanders, and fishes were donated to various institutions of higher learning including the Ohio State University, University of Oklahoma, University of Florida, University of Kentucky, Carnegie Mellon University, and University of Alabama among others.

Barry is remembered as a loving and devoted husband and father, for his warmth and support, his peaceful and gentle nature, his sincere desire to share his knowledge of the natural world with anyone interested, his dedication to his students, his love of classical music, his fun sense of humor, and his masterful use of puns.

Barry is preceded in death by his parents and sister and is survived by his wife, his two daughters, his five grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren. A celebration of his life will take place in the beginning of August with family and friends.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Natural History Museum of your choice.