Barber, who was a distinguished professor, founding director of the Center for Earth Observation Science and deputy research dean at the School of Environment, Earth and Resources, died Friday after complications from a heart attack. Barber, 61, was survived by his wife Lucette, three children and two grandchildren. He looked as big in his family as he did in academia, says his eldest son, Jeremy Barber. “I think the outward-looking piece that people might know as the Arctic guy was just a piece of the whole human being that he was, but it was very symbolic of who he was for the rest of his life,” Jeremy said in an interview with CBC News. “He was a very passionate man and a very faithful father, husband and family member.” David Barber was a professor and researcher at the University of Manitoba. He led a team each year to study the conditions of the sea ice in the Canadian Arctic Ocean. (Submitted by the University of Manitoba)
David, who was Canada’s director of research on Arctic science and climate change, was keen to include his family in his work, Jeremy said. “In 1999, I went with him to a remote camp for a two-hour helicopter ride north of Resolute Bay and just lived this life with him. And he did it for the rest of my life,” he said. “I do not know how he managed to put a nine-year-old child in an icy lid, but it was something I am very grateful for, something that made me and my siblings very human. . “ Climatologist Tim Papakyriakou also spent a lot of time with Barber in the High Arctic – sometimes even in tents on the sea ice. “He was the type you would like to be if things went awry. He was a very, very smart person, very intuitive, a very big man, too … So when you stick to your avalanche or something else happens, yes “you want to have Dave by your side”, said Papakyriakou. Papakyriakou says Barber has left a “huge mark” on Arctic research, locally, nationally and internationally. David Barber and his team are pictured in a 2015 archive photo where they placed GPS tracking devices, sonar systems and weather stations on top of ice floes. (Submitted by David Barber)
Barber played a key role in the development of many major international interdisciplinary networks and helped secure important research infrastructures in the Arctic. “He came back to the University of Manitoba because he wanted to contribute here. He was a proud Manitoba, a super proud Canadian and he loved the Arctic. He worked tirelessly to put Canada back on the Arctic map and he did it,” he said. Barber was honored with the Order of Canada in 2016, recognizing him as “one of our nation’s most important Arctic explorers.” Colleague and friend Feiyue Wang, a professor and chair of research at Arctic Environmental Chemistry in Canada at the U of M, said Barber’s loss as a visionary and industry leader would be felt around the world. “The impact that most people have felt is his leadership, his vision that we need to tackle complex climate change, the issue of Arctic change with not only academia, but also industry, communities, “Governments are working together to prepare the Arctic for what is about to happen.” David Barber (left) pictured with his team on a mission to the Arctic. The visionary researcher died on Friday at the age of 61. (Submitted by Julien Barber)
He is particularly disappointed that Barber will not be there to see the unveilings of the Churchill Naval Observatory in Churchill Harbor, Mann, which he believes is changing the game. “It’s the first major scientific infrastructure in the Arctic for the Arctic… so it’s one of my biggest regrets that David is not going to see the inauguration and all the research that is going to be done at the facility,” Wang said. The U of M hosts a celebration of life to honor Barber at the Engineering Atrium on April 23 from 1-3 p.m.