45°
The Pulitzer Prize winning author and columnist, known for his unique brand of humor, turns 69 on Sunday
David McAlister Barry, the son of a Presbyterian minister, was born in Armonk on July 3, 1947.
He attended Wampus Elementary School and Harold C. Crittenden Junior High School, both in Armonk.
He graduated from Pleasantville High School where he was elected "Class Clown" in 1965.
Barry penned a nationally syndicated humor column for the Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005.
Before he became the author of many books and articles of humor and parody, Barry worked as a reporter, editor and humor columnist for a newspaper in Pennsylvania.
In the early 1970s, he worked briefly as a copy editor for The Associated Press in Philadelphia.
He went on to teach writing to business people, spending nearly eight years, he said “trying to get various businesspersons to ... stop writing things like 'Enclosed please find the enclosed enclosures,' but...eventually realized that it was hopeless."
Barry won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for his Miami Herald column.
His first novel, “Big Trouble,” was turned into a motion picture starring Tim Allen and Rene Russo.
In 2004, Barry took a break from writing his weekly column.
Ten years later, he was awarded the Fairfax Prize for outstanding literary achievement.
From 1993-97, CBS broadcast a sitcom, "Dave’s World," which was based on Barry’s books and starred Harry Anderson as the writer.
He has run several mock campaigns for president of the United States, running on a libertarian platform.
Barry has been married three times, first to Ann Shelnutt, and then to Beth Pyle. Both marriages ended in divorce. He had a son, Robert, with Pyle.
He is married to Michelle Kaufman, a Miami Herald sportswriter, and they have a daughter, Sophie.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Armonk and receive free news updates.
