Donald's paternal grandparents immigrated from Ukraine* to England before coming to the United States. He grew up in New York City with his sister, Margaret. His father was an economist, and his mother a psychologist.
Donald converted from Judaism to Catholicism, and married Mary Margaret Ahern, daughter of William and Catherine Flynn Ahern. Mary was born in Connecticut to Irish Catholic parents. Like his father before him, Donald attended Columbia University in New York. He majored in mathematics and anthropology, and graduated in 1941. He joined the Army, and served with the Office of Strategic Services, precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency, in Washington, D.C. and in Europe. Afterward, he returned to Columbia, where he and his wife both taught in the English department while he earned his master's degree in 1951.
Donald continued his studies, completing course requirements for a PhD while teaching courses with field work in sociology and political science at the School of Engineering, and writing science and mathematics texts for elementary and junior high school students. In 1955, the engineering school asked him to oversee its efforts to recruit promising elementary and secondary science students and enlist them for advanced training at the school to help them rise to the college level. He then developed the Science Honors Program, which got the attention and support of the National Science Foundation. He accepted the position of Assistant Dean of the faculty of Engineering and Applied Science in 1959, and the foundation eventually asked him to administer its entire Cooperative College-School Program beginning in 1963 until he accepted the position as headmaster at Dalton school in Manhattan in 1964.
He had a somewhat turbulent tenure at Dalton for the next decade, with frequent disputes with parents and trustees over budgetary priorities and his disciplinary approach to substance abuse as well as political ideology. Prior to his dismissal, he hired Jeffrey Epstein, purported math whiz who had skipped two grades in high school but had no degree, to teach mathematics and physics at Dalton. The following year, Donald became headmaster at Hackley school, where upgraded the curriculum by adding foreign languages, and bolstering academic subjects and the arts. Donald and Mary had four sons together: Christopher J. Barr of Yardley, Pennsylvania.; William Pelham Barr of McLean, Virginia, who followed his father's footsteps into the CIA, and later served twice as US Attorney General; Hilary B. T. Barr of Heiningen, Germany; and Stephen M. Barr of Newark, Delaware. Donald and Mary retired in Colebrook, Litchfield County, Connecticut, where she preceded him in death.
* - The family hailed from the city of Berdychiv, which was affiliated with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569–1793, and with the Russian Empire from 1793–1917. Donald's grandfather, Philip Barr, is sometimes listed in the US Census as having hailed from Poland.
Donald converted from Judaism to Catholicism, and married Mary Margaret Ahern, daughter of William and Catherine Flynn Ahern. Mary was born in Connecticut to Irish Catholic parents. Like his father before him, Donald attended Columbia University in New York. He majored in mathematics and anthropology, and graduated in 1941. He joined the Army, and served with the Office of Strategic Services, precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency, in Washington, D.C. and in Europe. Afterward, he returned to Columbia, where he and his wife both taught in the English department while he earned his master's degree in 1951.
Donald continued his studies, completing course requirements for a PhD while teaching courses with field work in sociology and political science at the School of Engineering, and writing science and mathematics texts for elementary and junior high school students. In 1955, the engineering school asked him to oversee its efforts to recruit promising elementary and secondary science students and enlist them for advanced training at the school to help them rise to the college level. He then developed the Science Honors Program, which got the attention and support of the National Science Foundation. He accepted the position of Assistant Dean of the faculty of Engineering and Applied Science in 1959, and the foundation eventually asked him to administer its entire Cooperative College-School Program beginning in 1963 until he accepted the position as headmaster at Dalton school in Manhattan in 1964.
He had a somewhat turbulent tenure at Dalton for the next decade, with frequent disputes with parents and trustees over budgetary priorities and his disciplinary approach to substance abuse as well as political ideology. Prior to his dismissal, he hired Jeffrey Epstein, purported math whiz who had skipped two grades in high school but had no degree, to teach mathematics and physics at Dalton. The following year, Donald became headmaster at Hackley school, where upgraded the curriculum by adding foreign languages, and bolstering academic subjects and the arts. Donald and Mary had four sons together: Christopher J. Barr of Yardley, Pennsylvania.; William Pelham Barr of McLean, Virginia, who followed his father's footsteps into the CIA, and later served twice as US Attorney General; Hilary B. T. Barr of Heiningen, Germany; and Stephen M. Barr of Newark, Delaware. Donald and Mary retired in Colebrook, Litchfield County, Connecticut, where she preceded him in death.
* - The family hailed from the city of Berdychiv, which was affiliated with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569–1793, and with the Russian Empire from 1793–1917. Donald's grandfather, Philip Barr, is sometimes listed in the US Census as having hailed from Poland.
Donald's paternal grandparents immigrated from Ukraine* to England before coming to the United States. He grew up in New York City with his sister, Margaret. His father was an economist, and his mother a psychologist.
Donald converted from Judaism to Catholicism, and married Mary Margaret Ahern, daughter of William and Catherine Flynn Ahern. Mary was born in Connecticut to Irish Catholic parents. Like his father before him, Donald attended Columbia University in New York. He majored in mathematics and anthropology, and graduated in 1941. He joined the Army, and served with the Office of Strategic Services, precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency, in Washington, D.C. and in Europe. Afterward, he returned to Columbia, where he and his wife both taught in the English department while he earned his master's degree in 1951.
Donald continued his studies, completing course requirements for a PhD while teaching courses with field work in sociology and political science at the School of Engineering, and writing science and mathematics texts for elementary and junior high school students. In 1955, the engineering school asked him to oversee its efforts to recruit promising elementary and secondary science students and enlist them for advanced training at the school to help them rise to the college level. He then developed the Science Honors Program, which got the attention and support of the National Science Foundation. He accepted the position of Assistant Dean of the faculty of Engineering and Applied Science in 1959, and the foundation eventually asked him to administer its entire Cooperative College-School Program beginning in 1963 until he accepted the position as headmaster at Dalton school in Manhattan in 1964.
He had a somewhat turbulent tenure at Dalton for the next decade, with frequent disputes with parents and trustees over budgetary priorities and his disciplinary approach to substance abuse as well as political ideology. Prior to his dismissal, he hired Jeffrey Epstein, purported math whiz who had skipped two grades in high school but had no degree, to teach mathematics and physics at Dalton. The following year, Donald became headmaster at Hackley school, where upgraded the curriculum by adding foreign languages, and bolstering academic subjects and the arts. Donald and Mary had four sons together: Christopher J. Barr of Yardley, Pennsylvania.; William Pelham Barr of McLean, Virginia, who followed his father's footsteps into the CIA, and later served twice as US Attorney General; Hilary B. T. Barr of Heiningen, Germany; and Stephen M. Barr of Newark, Delaware. Donald and Mary retired in Colebrook, Litchfield County, Connecticut, where she preceded him in death.
* - The family hailed from the city of Berdychiv, which was affiliated with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569–1793, and with the Russian Empire from 1793–1917. Donald's grandfather, Philip Barr, is sometimes listed in the US Census as having hailed from Poland.
Donald converted from Judaism to Catholicism, and married Mary Margaret Ahern, daughter of William and Catherine Flynn Ahern. Mary was born in Connecticut to Irish Catholic parents. Like his father before him, Donald attended Columbia University in New York. He majored in mathematics and anthropology, and graduated in 1941. He joined the Army, and served with the Office of Strategic Services, precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency, in Washington, D.C. and in Europe. Afterward, he returned to Columbia, where he and his wife both taught in the English department while he earned his master's degree in 1951.
Donald continued his studies, completing course requirements for a PhD while teaching courses with field work in sociology and political science at the School of Engineering, and writing science and mathematics texts for elementary and junior high school students. In 1955, the engineering school asked him to oversee its efforts to recruit promising elementary and secondary science students and enlist them for advanced training at the school to help them rise to the college level. He then developed the Science Honors Program, which got the attention and support of the National Science Foundation. He accepted the position of Assistant Dean of the faculty of Engineering and Applied Science in 1959, and the foundation eventually asked him to administer its entire Cooperative College-School Program beginning in 1963 until he accepted the position as headmaster at Dalton school in Manhattan in 1964.
He had a somewhat turbulent tenure at Dalton for the next decade, with frequent disputes with parents and trustees over budgetary priorities and his disciplinary approach to substance abuse as well as political ideology. Prior to his dismissal, he hired Jeffrey Epstein, purported math whiz who had skipped two grades in high school but had no degree, to teach mathematics and physics at Dalton. The following year, Donald became headmaster at Hackley school, where upgraded the curriculum by adding foreign languages, and bolstering academic subjects and the arts. Donald and Mary had four sons together: Christopher J. Barr of Yardley, Pennsylvania.; William Pelham Barr of McLean, Virginia, who followed his father's footsteps into the CIA, and later served twice as US Attorney General; Hilary B. T. Barr of Heiningen, Germany; and Stephen M. Barr of Newark, Delaware. Donald and Mary retired in Colebrook, Litchfield County, Connecticut, where she preceded him in death.
* - The family hailed from the city of Berdychiv, which was affiliated with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569–1793, and with the Russian Empire from 1793–1917. Donald's grandfather, Philip Barr, is sometimes listed in the US Census as having hailed from Poland.
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