By Lyn Moriarity, W-L Crew Boosters Co-President, 2006-07
November 2007

Andy Barr is a people person. From his earliest days in the rural south to recent decades in the Washington area, Andy Barr has exhibited a strong compassion for those less fortunate and a commitment to helping what he calls “a just cause.”

Learning about business from his grandfather and frugality from his Depression-era parents, Barr began “creating” money in high school and became a highly successful real estate broker buying and selling houses in the area. With confidence that if he gave money away he could always make more, Barr set about helping people and activities to which he had a direct connection. An important component of that effort has been aiding his alma mater, Washington-Lee High School. Barr, the alumni association’s first president, has provided significant support for the debate team, the new running track and the W-L Foundation, which provides college scholarships. And, though Barr graduated in 1946, three years before the school established its rowing program, he has shown an enduring generosity to W-L Crew.

Barr first got involved with the program in 1960, when the team won the national championship and qualified for England’s Royal Henley Regatta. When Barr couldn’t persuade the local Jaycees to help raise up to $12,000 in 10 days for the team’s travel expenses, he took up the cause himself. Day after day Barr drove the Arlington streets, towing a crew shell behind his car while students collected funds. With limited personal resources but captured by the enthusiasm and reminders of his W-L school days, Barr capped off the campaign with his own $1,200 and the crew was off to England. “I found overwhelming support from all the students at W-L. The kids were so optimistic, so positive, so happy. The mood was something I will never forget and to this day that is why I support crew.”

One of Barr’s other long-term commitments began in the 1980s. Watching television coverage of homeless people in Washington from his comfortable living room, Barr was reminded of a frigid and frightening night spent hungry and without so much as a blanket on a mountainside during the Korean War. With the enemy nearby and night closing in, no one was willing to bring food or sleeping bags to the troops. He survived the night and the war unscathed – only six of the more than 140 men in his company returned home alive and unwounded. After an experience like that, “you feel like you should pay back,” he says. “If you’re lucky enough to make a dollar you ought to share it!” He ordered sleeping bags from L.L. Bean – spending roughly $450,000 over nine years – and personally delivered them to homeless people in the District, learning their stories as he asked night after night, “Could you use a sleeping bag?”

“The government can’t do everything; people have to help too.” Likewise says Barr, the schools can’t do everything either. Barr’s support for W-L Crew was renewed as he learned of his Lyon Village neighbors’ spirited participation in the sport. He offered a donation to purchase the “Andy Barr” eight-man shell in 2004. Subsequent donations helped purchase two additional shells – the “Doc Sharbaugh” and the “Buddy Steger” – and build the new endowment fund.

Watching the team at the boathouse is “deeply emotional” says Barr. “I feel unbelievable love and admiration for those students, parents and coaches who work so hard. It takes a lot of effort, a lot of mental thought and determination” to succeed at this sport. Crew, he adds, “brings W-L students together. It makes them all go in one direction to support their school”. He calls W-L Crew “a just cause”.

This proud W-L graduate is an inspiration to all who know him and a generous supporter of this amazing sport. Thank you Andy Barr!!