Irving K. Barber, or Ike Barber as he preferred to be called, passed away peacefully at home on April 13 at the age of 89 after a long illness.

Barber graduated from the University of British Columbia‘s Faculty of Forestry in 1950. He spent 18 years with MacMillan Bloedel, and later joined Triangle Pacific.

As vice-president and CEO of Triangle Pacific, he teamed up with co-worker Ron Price in 1978 to buy the sawmill at Slocan and form Slocan Forest Products.

Barber retired as chairman of Slocan Forest Products in 2002 after building the company into one of North America’s leading lumber producers.

Barber became a philanthropist and was instrumental in establishing programs to promote education and research throughout B.C. He had a life-long belief in the value of education and the importance of access to education, regardless of income, especially in remote communities of the province.

The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, to which he donated $20 million in 2006, remains a world-leading facility and a hub of the Vancouver campus and accessible worldwide. In, 2004 he donated $10 million to establish the Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences and the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre Interface Program at the University of British Columbia’s campus in the Okanagan.

University of British Columbia bestowed Barber with an honorary degree in 2002, and the following year he received the Order of BC.

Ike Barber is survived by his wife Jean, whom he married in 1943, his three children, Linda (Brooke) Williams, James (Lynne) Barber and Gregory (Linda) Barber, nine grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren.

Sources:
UBC remembers alumnus, forester and philanthropist Dr. Irving K. Barber, OC, OBC 1923 – 2012 (UBC)
Slocan Forest Products founder dies at 89 (Nelson Star)
About Irving K. Barber (Kwantlen Polytechnic University)