Donald Barr (August 8, 1921 – February 5, 2004) was an American educator, writer, and

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...

(OSS) officer. He was an administrator at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

before serving as headmaster at the

Dalton School The Dalton School, originally the Children's University School, is a private, coeducational college preparatory school in New York City and a member of both the Ivy Preparatory School League and the New York Interschool. The school is located in ...

in New York City and the Hackley School in

Tarrytown, New York Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North ...

. He also wrote two

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novels. His sons are former

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

William Barr William Pelham Barr (born May 23, 1950) is an American attorney who served as the 77th and 85th United States attorney general in the administrations of Presidents George H. W. Bush and Donald Trump. Born and raised in New York City, Barr ...

and physicist Stephen Barr.

Early life and education

Barr was born in Manhattan, New York, the son of Estelle (née DeYoung), a psychologist, and Pelham Barr, an economist. He and his wife, Mary Margaret (née Ahern), had four children including William P. Barr (who served as the 77th

U.S. Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

in the

George H. W. Bush Administration George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

and as the 85th U.S. Attorney General in the

Donald Trump Administration Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory o ...

) and

particle physicist Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of Elementary particle, fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standa ...

Stephen Barr. He was born to a Jewish family, but later

converted Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He sent his children to a Catholic elementary school and his son

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

would later describe him as "more Catholic than the Catholics." Barr graduated from Columbia College in 1941 with a degree in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

Career

Barr served in the

(OSS) during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Following the conflict, he returned to Columbia, where he earned an M.A. in English in 1950 and completed course requirements for a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in the discipline while also teaching in the English department. During this period, he also taught "courses with field work in

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

at the

School of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations that ...

" and wrote "science and mathematics texts for elementary and junior high school students." He initiated the Columbia University Science Honors Program in 1958 and was its director (as an assistant dean at the School of Engineering) until 1964. From 1963 to 1964, he also administered the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

Cooperative College-School Program. He was headmaster of the

from 1964 to 1974. During his time as Dalton's headmaster, Barr is alleged to have had a role in hiring future financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a math teacher despite the fact that Epstein (who graduated from high school at the age of 16 and secured a full scholarship to

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

) had failed to complete his degree and was only 21 years old at the time. In 1973, Barr published '' Space Relations'', a science fiction novel about a planet ruled by oligarchs who engage in child sex slavery. It has been noted that the plot of the novel anticipates the crimes of Epstein and his convicted and prosecuted accomplice (the list of politicians and celebrities involved in sex crimes remains hidden),

Ghislaine Maxwell Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell ( ; born 25 December 1961) is a British convicted sex offender and former socialite. In 2021, she was found guilty of child sex trafficking and other offences in connection with the financier and convicted sex o ...

. Barr also reviewed books for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. (review of '' The Two Towers'') In addition to his two science fiction novels, he sold two stories to '' The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction''; one of these (the 2002 "Sam") was reprinted in the 2003 anthology ''Year's Best Fantasy 3''. In 1983 President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

nominated Donald Barr to be a member of the

National Council on Educational Research The National Council on Educational Research (NCER) was part of the U.S. Department of Education. The council was originally tasked with overseeing the activities of the educational Labs and Centers established by Congress, the largest of which w ...

.Ronald Reagan
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, 1985
/ref>

Selected works

*''The How and Why Wonder Book of Atomic Energy'' (1961) *''Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty? Dilemmas in American Education'' (1971) * ''Space Relations: A Slightly Gothic Interplanetary Tale'' (1973) *'' A Planet in Arms'' (1981)

References

External links

''Space Relations''
1973 sci-fi novel at Google Books * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barr, Donald 1921 births 2004 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American short story writers 20th-century American educators American male novelists American male short story writers American people of Jewish descent American science fiction writers Columbia University faculty Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Columbia College (New York) alumni People of the Office of Strategic Services The New Yorker critics Novelists from New York (state) Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism Writers from Manhattan 21st-century American male writers