October 22, 1935 – February 7, 2023
James Carbrey “Jim” Barr, a resident of Williamsburg, Va., and formerly of Northern Virginia, passed away Feb. 7, 2023.
Jim was born Oct. 22, 1935, in Leavenworth, Kan., to James Alexander and Kathryn Abigail Carbrey Barr. He grew up in Marshall, Mo., and graduated from Marshall High School. After serving two years in the U.S. Army with the 39th Infantry Regiment, Ninth Infantry Division, he attended the University of Missouri, earning a B.S. degree in business administration. Jim is a graduate of the Northeastern Institute for Consumer Credit and received a certificate of Financial Planning from the Florida Institute of Technology.
Jim’s business career started as Vice President/General Manager of the Credit Bureau of New Haven Inc. in New Haven, Conn. Then, he became the regional manager of the Associated Credit Bureaus Inc., Washington, D.C. After that, he served the U.S. credit union movement, first as executive vice president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), and later as executive vice president and director of governmental affairs for the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) – both in Washington, D.C.
During the time Jim was involved with credit unions (mainly during the 1970s and early 1980s), Jim was a major player in the legislative efforts to change the Federal Credit Union Act that enabled federal and state credit unions to evolve from financial institutions which offered very limited financial services, mainly savings and consumer loans, to the full-service financial institutions that credit unions have become today.
In conjunction with the two trade associations (CUNA) and (NAFCU) and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), Jim helped lead the effort to capitalize the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund that moved the fund from a position of being the least capitalized of the federal insurance funds to become the fund with the highest capital ratio.
After Jim left the credit union industry, he became Chief Executive Officer of the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), which was the national trade organization for U.S. dairy cooperatives and their farmer members. During his tenure he successfully guided the Federation through three Farm Bills, the US-Canada Free Trade Agreement, the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Agreement that created the new World Trade Organization (WTO).
Under his guidance, NMPF became an aggressive force to move the U.S. dairy industry from a policy of total domestic focus to a policy of seeking world markets for U.S. dairy products. He was instrumental in creating the U.S. Dairy Export Council, an organization of diary cooperatives and private sector dairy processors whose goal was to create world markets for U.S. dairy products.
Jim was a member of the American Society of Association Executives and served as chairman of several committees, including the governmental affairs committee and the political action committee. He was awarded the Certified Association Executive designation for life.
He served as the Treasurer of the National Foundation for Consumer Credit, which is the umbrella trade organization for the Nation’s Non-Profit Credit Counseling Services. He was also a member of the Advisory Board of the Fairfax County, Va., Salvation Army.
Jim was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and the U.S. Trade Representative to serve on the U.S. Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee whose responsibility was to assist in the development of U.S. Agricultural World Trade.
He served on the Board of Trustees of the Trust for Credit Unions, which was an investment trust for credit unions managed by Goldman Sachs. He served several terms as Chairman of the Trust and also as chairman of the audit committee.
Jim is a past chairman for the Cooperative Development Foundation and was a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Foundation.
After retirement from the corporate world, he became a licensed realtor in the state of Virginia.
Jim is survived by Sara Beck, his companion and loving wife of 52 years. He is also survived by three sons from a previous marriage: Fletcher, Richard and David.
Inurnment will be held at the Oakdale Baptist Church cemetery, Spencer, N.C. Sara’s hometown.
