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STORRS, CT — A longtime official in the University of Connecticut Athletic Department and groundbreaking administrator of the Big East Conference has died. Phil Barry, a 1954 UConn graduate who dedicated more than 60 years of his life to the campus, died June 14 at the age of 96, UConn officials said. Barry was born in Willimantic on March 30, 1929. He was married to his wife, Lena, for 68 years. Barry was a 1947 graduate of Windham High School, where he was president of his freshman and senior classes. He excelled in basketball and baseball at WHS. Barry enrolled at UConn, but then completed officer training for two years during the Korean War. Following his military discharge, he graduated from UConn in 1954 and worked for two years at the former Willimantic Trust Company, where he met his wife when she came in to cash her nursing payroll checks. Barry was hired in the UConn Division of Athletics as ticket manager and worked for 31 years in the department. His career in athletics progressed to business manager and later assistant to the director of athletics. In August 1970, he was named assistant director of athletics and in 1983 was named associate director of athletics for operations, before retiring in 1987. At UConn, he served on many search committees to fill staff and team coaching vacancies.Barry served as the first treasurer of the Big East Conference at the league’s inception in 1979 and was also secretary-treasurer of the Yankee Conference. Barry was active for many years in the Collegiate Athletic Business Management Association, serving that national group as president in 1974 and being named National Athletic Business Manager of the Year in 1975. Following retirement, Barry was a member of UConn’s Board of Trustees from 2001 to 2009 and the Board of Directors of the UConn Alumni Association. Barry was elected and served two terms as a member of the Mansfield Town Council. During his tenure, he focused on the Downtown Storrs project and worked to foster closer ties between the town of Mansfield and UConn. Barry was a member of of Willimantic Country Club, the Elks Club, and the Irish Club of Willimantic. He was one of the last living members of Roy’s Boys – a dedicated group of Willimantic area baseball players who benefited as teens under the guidance and teaching of Willimantic YMCA Director Roy Dissinger. For his complete obituary, see UConn Today.
