Obituary for John G. Barrett
John G. Barrett
John G. Barrett was born on May 18, 1933 to parents Harold and Isabel and is predeceased by four brothers – Frank, Christopher, David and Michael and is survived by brother Donal. A devout Catholic possessed of a wicked sense of humor and a successful businessman, John was a devoted father to his five children: John, Mark, Kevin, Jennifer and Greg as well as his eleven grandchildren: Kyle, Dylan, Sarah, Ian, Josh, Christian, Gabe, Isabella, Luke, Delphina and Olivia. John always put family first and was beloved by the entire Barrett clan.
John was a Renaissance man in the truest sense of the world. He loved theology, horse racing, politics, Giants baseball and a good cigar, not necessarily in that order. His life was centered on his Catholic faith and he never failed to bring in ethical and moral considerations in all that he did and his many keen observations of the world at large. John was always the quintessential New Yorker who was well liked in his Yorkville neighborhood at held court at Gracie Mews diner. To paraphrase Frank Sinatra, John always did it his way.
John graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA in 1955. After graduation, he got a job at W.R. Grace & Co. in New York City where he met his future wife and mother of his five children Chilean Betty Berger. He had a successful corporate career at other companies and spearheaded the successful evacuation of countless orphaned Vietnamese children while working at ad agency J. Walter Thompson.
But John always had a strong entrepreneurial streak and created a successful promotional print campaign at the New York World’s Fair in 1963. In the early 1980s, John started the wildly successful company called Trailmap, Inc., a program that gave national advertisers a print platform to reach affluent skiers. In 1986, John went back to Wall Street where he became an accomplished stock trader. But none of his financial success mattered to John and his devout Catholic faith made him active in Catholic charities throughout his life. He often said and truly believed: “What does it profit a man to gain the world, and lose his soul?” In his later years, John traveled the world extensively with his companion Kirby Graham.
They say that laughter is the best medicine and we are sure that John is cracking jokes at our feeble attempt to honor his life through these words. John lived a long, happy life and died peacefully in his apartment on December 18, 2022. Somewhere in heaven, John is smoking that expensive Cuban cigar, reading the Morning Telegraph, watching the Giants win the World Series and offering words of wisdom filled with numerous biblical and theological allusions. He will be smiling down on all the many people whose lives he touched. And we are the less for his absence.
Please join us in celebrating John’s life at Beecher Flooks Funeral Home, 418 Bedford Road, Pleasantville, NY 10570 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 12:30 PM at St. Francis of Assisi Chapel at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 10 West Stevens Avenue, Hawthorne, NY 10532. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to any major Catholic Charity.
John G. Barrett was born on May 18, 1933 to parents Harold and Isabel and is predeceased by four brothers – Frank, Christopher, David and Michael and is survived by brother Donal. A devout Catholic possessed of a wicked sense of humor and a successful businessman, John was a devoted father to his five children: John, Mark, Kevin, Jennifer and Greg as well as his eleven grandchildren: Kyle, Dylan, Sarah, Ian, Josh, Christian, Gabe, Isabella, Luke, Delphina and Olivia. John always put family first and was beloved by the entire Barrett clan.
John was a Renaissance man in the truest sense of the world. He loved theology, horse racing, politics, Giants baseball and a good cigar, not necessarily in that order. His life was centered on his Catholic faith and he never failed to bring in ethical and moral considerations in all that he did and his many keen observations of the world at large. John was always the quintessential New Yorker who was well liked in his Yorkville neighborhood at held court at Gracie Mews diner. To paraphrase Frank Sinatra, John always did it his way.
John graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA in 1955. After graduation, he got a job at W.R. Grace & Co. in New York City where he met his future wife and mother of his five children Chilean Betty Berger. He had a successful corporate career at other companies and spearheaded the successful evacuation of countless orphaned Vietnamese children while working at ad agency J. Walter Thompson.
But John always had a strong entrepreneurial streak and created a successful promotional print campaign at the New York World’s Fair in 1963. In the early 1980s, John started the wildly successful company called Trailmap, Inc., a program that gave national advertisers a print platform to reach affluent skiers. In 1986, John went back to Wall Street where he became an accomplished stock trader. But none of his financial success mattered to John and his devout Catholic faith made him active in Catholic charities throughout his life. He often said and truly believed: “What does it profit a man to gain the world, and lose his soul?” In his later years, John traveled the world extensively with his companion Kirby Graham.
They say that laughter is the best medicine and we are sure that John is cracking jokes at our feeble attempt to honor his life through these words. John lived a long, happy life and died peacefully in his apartment on December 18, 2022. Somewhere in heaven, John is smoking that expensive Cuban cigar, reading the Morning Telegraph, watching the Giants win the World Series and offering words of wisdom filled with numerous biblical and theological allusions. He will be smiling down on all the many people whose lives he touched. And we are the less for his absence.
Please join us in celebrating John’s life at Beecher Flooks Funeral Home, 418 Bedford Road, Pleasantville, NY 10570 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 12:30 PM at St. Francis of Assisi Chapel at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 10 West Stevens Avenue, Hawthorne, NY 10532. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to any major Catholic Charity.