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2025 Living Legends: BARRY, CAROLYN AND RICHARD F.
PHILANTHROPISTS, SUFFOLK
2025 Living Legends: BARRY, CAROLYN AND RICHARD F.
PHILANTHROPISTS, SUFFOLK
Longtime Hampton Roads residents, the Barrys made a $35 million donation to Old Dominion University in 2016, then the Norfolk university’s largest individual gift, which funded the Barry Art Museum.
Richard “Dick” Barry, whose father was a math professor at ODU, retired as vice chairman of Landmark Media Enterprises in 2010, and Carolyn Barry, a Mary Washington College graduate, was an adjunct math educator at ODU in the 1960s, and she became a serious collector of rare and antique dolls, some inherited from her aunt.
The Barrys also became major collectors of art and have rehomed their glass artworks and American paintings at the museum, which opened in 2018. In August, the museum temporarily closed for a $25 million renovation set to be finished by early 2027, a project funded by the Barrys and other ODU donors.
Dick Barry was a member of ODU’s board of visitors for eight years, including two as rector, and held leadership roles in fundraising for the university. An attorney, Barry worked for Landmark for nearly 40 years and oversaw the company’s TV stations and newspapers, including The Virginian-Pilot.
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