Family and friends are mourning the loss of Arctic visionary researcher and University of Manitoba professor David Barber.
Barber, a prominent professor, founding director of the Center for Earth Observation Science and an associate professor of research at the Faculty of Environment, Land and Resources, died Friday after suffering complications from cardiac arrest.
Barber, 61, is survived by his wife, Lucette, three children and two grandchildren.
He was as big in his family as he was in academia, says his eldest son, Jeremy Barber.
“I think the outward part that people might know of him as something like an Arctic man was just part of all the man he was, but it was very symbolic of what he was for the rest of his life,” Jeremy said. said in an interview with CBC News.
“He was a very passionate man and a very loyal father, husband and family member.”
David Barber was a professor and researcher at the University of Manitoba. He leads an annual team to study sea ice conditions in Canada’s Arctic Ocean. (Presented by the University of Manitoba)
David, who was a research chair in Canada in Arctic system science and climate change, was very intent on involving his family in his work, Jeremy said.
“In 1999, I took him to a remote camp on a two-hour helicopter trip north of Resolution Bay, and I just lived that life with him. And he did that all my life, “he said.
“I don’t know how he managed to put a nine-year-old on an ice hat, but it was something I’m very grateful for, something that positions me very much who I and my siblings are as people.”
U of M climatologist Tim Papakiriakou also spends a lot of time with Barber in the High Arctic – sometimes even in sea ice tents.
“He was the person you would like to be with if things went awry. He was a very, very smart man, very intuitive, a very big man too… So when you crash your snowmobile or something else happens, yes, you want to have Dave by your side, ”Papakiriakou said.
Papakiriakou says Barber has left a “huge mark” on Arctic research, locally, nationally and internationally.
David Barber and his team are pictured in a 2015 file, where they placed GPS tracking devices, sonar systems and weather stations on floating ice formations. (Submitted by David Barber)
Barber plays an important role in the development of many large international multidisciplinary networks and helps provide a basic infrastructure for Arctic research.
“He returned to the University of Manitoba because he wanted to contribute here. He was a super proud Manitoba, a super proud Canadian, and he loved the Arctic. He worked tirelessly to get Canada back on the map in Arctic research and he did it, “he said.
Barber was awarded the Order or Canada in 2016, being recognized as “one of the most influential Arctic explorers in our nation.”
Colleague and friend Feiyue Wang, a professor and chair of research in Canadian Arctic Environmental Chemistry at the U of M, said the loss of Barber as a visionary and leader in the field would be felt around the world.
“The impact that most have felt is his leadership, his vision that we have to deal with complex climate change, the problem of Arctic change with not only academia, but also industry, communities, governments that work. together to prepare the northern Arctic for what will happen, “Wang said.
David Barber (left) is pictured with his team on an Arctic expedition. 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 opening of the Churchill Marine Observatory in Churchill Harbor, Man., Something he sees as a change in the game.
“This is the first major Arctic science infrastructure for the Arctic… so this is one of my biggest regrets that David will not see the grand opening and all the research that will take place at the facility,” Wang said.
U of M is hosting a barber’s life event in the engineering atrium on April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m.
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