George W. Barber

George W. Barber, 76, of Longboat Key, a corporate executive and a former owner of Snook Haven in Venice, died at home on July 26, 2018, of congestive heart failure. Mr. Barber was born Oct. 24, 1941, in Irvington, N.J., the son of Harold Barber and Elsie Meyer Barber. He graduated from Seton Hall University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, and earned two master’s degrees from Fairleigh Dickinson University, one in Accounting and Taxation and one in Marketing. After beginning his career as an accountant at Hayne & Co. department store in Newark, N.J., Mr. Barber worked for Deloitte, Haskins & Sells in New York, for Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in New York, and for American Cyanamid Corporation’s agricultural division in Princeton, N.J., and their consumer products division in Wayne, N.J., where he eventually was named comptroller. After leaving Cyanamid in 1981, Mr. Barber served as a consultant to Schmid Laboratories in LIttle Falls, N.J., and Cook Bates Co. in Venice, both owned by London Rubber Co. His consulting work with Cook Bates brought him to Venice frequently, and he eventually bought a condo there. In 1982, he and three partners purchased Snook Haven, where they installed a bandstand and started running a pontoon tour boat. They sold the operation about 1984. In 1990, London Rubber Co. renamed itself London International and moved its headquarters to Sarasota. Mr. Barber and his family moved full-time to South Bay in Osprey, then to Bird Key and finally to Longboat Key. London International moved its headquarters to Atlanta in 1996, but by then Mr. Barber had already been reducing his involvement in the firm. He devoted his time instead to a tax and accounting business that he had started in New Jersey; to buying and selling automobiles; and to buying and selling real estate as a Realtor with Andrews & Associates of Sarasota. He was active in all three ventures at the time of his death. He had also owned two auto dealerships in New Jersey. He was a lifetime member of the Metropolitan Club in New York City, a member of Alpha Kappa Psi, a national honor fraternity for professionals in business administration, and a member of the American Legion for more than 20 years. Mr. Barber is survived by his wife, Phyliss M. Barber of Longboat Key; two daughters, Aimee Isaacs of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Melissa A. Barber of Sarasota; a grandson, Michael Isaacs of Scottsdale, Ariz., and a sister, Carol Ann Regal of Fanwood, N.J. His first wife, Carolyn Milgate Barber, died in 1967. A funeral mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Aug. 22, 2018, at St. Martha’s Catholic Church, 200 N. Orange Avenue, Sarasota, FL 34236. The family suggests that memorial donations be made to Sarasota Youth Sailing, Attn: Mallory Buechler, P.O. Box 2706, Sarasota, FL 34230, or to the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation, 1515 South Osprey Avenue, Suite B-4, Sarasota, FL 34239, with the notation “Funds restricted to cardiology.”

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George W. Barber

October 24, 1941 - July 26, 2018