Robert "Bob" Baron Barbor

Robert Baron Barbor, 77, passed away at Ochsner Hospital in New Orleans amidst a historic Louisiana snowstorm after a long battle with an illness that he bore with grace, resolve, and humility. Bob questioned his ultimate destination but faced the next chapter unafraid. The falling of snow on the city he loved was a fitting end for a man so deeply poetic.

Bob was born in 1948 in Long Beach, CA, to Robert Thomas Barbor and Ruth Haggett Barbor, who preceded him in death, as did his sister Leslie Barbor. Bob's family moved often because his father was a career naval officer. He attended a dozen elementary and secondary schools before his father retired in Meridian, MS when he was in high school. Bob also attended the Baylor School in Chattanooga, TN, where he excelled in swimming enough to earn a swimming/academic scholarship to Tulane University. After graduating from Tulane, he also received a law degree in 1978. Bob spent 4 years in the US Navy as a Lieutenant (JG) communications officer, immensely enjoying his post in Oahu and his cozy island cottage overlooking the Pacific. He left his surfing days behind to practice admiralty law in Houston for a few years, followed by several years as a landman in Texas and Louisiana's oil and gas business, mainly working for Getty Oil and Callon Petroleum. After the crash of that industry in 1986, Bob sought his fortune in California, moving with his former wife Lindy and their two children to Sonoma County, where he became the right-hand man to the commercial real estate mogul Hugh Codding, owner of Codding Enterprises. Ultimately feeling the call to move closer back to his roots in the South, in 1992, Bob took a job with the Louisiana State Attorney General’s office in Baton Rouge. This was followed by many years in Louisiana state government, including positions at the Office of Corrections, the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency, and, after Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana Recovery Authority, which managed disaster recovery work.

Bob concluded his career as an attorney by serving as general counsel for the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), from which he retired in 2017. This coincided with the arrival of grandchildren into the family he began sharing with his loving partner, Caroline Helwick. This unlikely and enviable match began when the two met on Match.com in 2012. They were perfect counterparts to each other: an introverted, easy-going, quiet, laid-back yin to her mile-a-minute yang. While others bemoaned the restrictions of the Covid lockdown, he welcomed them, famously announcing, “I was made for a pandemic!” He will be remembered as a warm soul with a calming energy, an awesome father and stepfather, a devoted life partner, and a learned and wise man with a profound intellect. To the little ones in the family, “Bobby” will always be the most fun playmate, patient and interested listener, and teacher of essential life lessons as only their Bobby could impart.

Survivors include his loving partner of 12 years, Caroline Helwick, his children, Meagan “Meg” Rayne Barbor and Robert “Joe” Joseph Nordman Barbor, of New Orleans; his sister, Anne Chalk (Duncan) of Meridian, MS; his step-daughters Erica Helwick Doyle (Chase) of Los Angeles and Diana Helwick Stokes (Patrick) of New Orleans; his grandchildren, Campbell Stokes, Baker Stokes, Savannah Doyle and Bodhi Doyle; his former wife and mother of Joe and Meg, Linda “Lindy” Louise Barbor (Bob Berthelot) of Chalmette; and nieces and nephews, Shana, Erin and Duncan.

Friends will be invited to honor him at a gathering on a future date. To honor Bob’s memory, he would only ask that you sit still, look inward, and appreciate the tapestry of a life well lived. The snow that fell on the day of his passing will eventually melt, but the world will remain colder without him.