Former Paramount and Time Warner executive Arthur R. Barron died on October 22, 2011 at the age of 77.  Art Barron was born July 12, 1934 and grew up around Lake Okoboji, Iowa. Following service in the U.S. Navy, he graduated from San Diego State University. He joined the international accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand where he became a CPA. In 1963 he went to work for Desilu Productions. Soon afterwards, Desilu was acquired by Gulf + Western, which recently had also had taken over Paramount Pictures.

 Arthur R. Barron assumed the leadership of Paramount Communications Inc.’s (formerly Gulf + Western’s) leisure and entertainment businesses after Barry Diller and Michael Eisner exited Paramount Pictures in the early 1980s. He was President of PCI’s Entertainment Group from 1984 to 1989, when he retired. Not long afterward, he was lured back to work for Time Warner by Steve Ross. Barron served as Chairman of Time Warner International from 1990 until his final retirement in 1995.  Over the next quarter century Barron advanced through several executive positions in Paramount Pictures and its parent company Gulf + Western (subsequently named Paramount Communications Inc.).  He was Paramount’s Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer between 1967 and 1983. As President of PCI’s Entertainment Group he led Paramount Pictures, Simon and Schuster, Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, Famous Players theater chain, Famous Music, and the Group’s interests in several international joint ventures.

 Frank Mancuso, ex-Chairman and CEO of Paramount Picture and MGM, said “I had the great privilege of working with Art Barron for 25 years at Paramount Pictures.  He was an exceptional financial executive, a company builder, a devoted husband and father, and an exceptional friend.  He will truly be missed by so many.”

 The French Government appointed Barron a Commander of Arts & Letters in 1987. In 1998, San Diego State University awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.  The same year, Japan’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications recognized Barron with its Minister’s Commendation Award.

Over the years Barron served on committees organized by the U.S. State Department and the Commerce Department. He was a Trustee of the Business Council for International Understanding;  a member of the Advisory Committee for the Center for Strategic  & International Studies and a director of the Russian American Chamber of Commerce.  Barron was a Trustee of the American Museum of the Moving Image; its Education Program is named in honor of Barron and his wife, Joan.  He also served on the Board of Trustees of the American Liver Foundation.   

Barron maintained a close relationship with his alma mater, San Diego State University.  He was Founding Co-Chairman of the SDSU Japan-U.S. Telecommunications Research Institute.  He was also the Founding Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Center for Communications. Earlier this year, The Joan & Art Barron Veterans Center was dedicated at SDSU.  

 

Barron was a director of the Southern Ocean County Hospital in Manahawkin, NJ.  He was also a Trustee of the Southern Ocean Medical Center Foundation.   Other organizations he served in various capacities included the Surflight Theatre Co., the Alliance for a Living Ocean (ALO), and the Montana Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. 

 

Art and Joan Barron maintained homes in Bonita Springs, Fla., and Beach Haven, N.J. In addition to his wife, Joan, he is survived by his son Robert and his wife Maria, their children Brian, Sean, Tyler and Alanna, and his daughter Brenda and her children, Janaye and Ryan.

Services will be held Friday October 28, 2011 at 11AM at Holy Innocents Church,

Marine Street, Beach Haven, NJ.  In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to The Joan and Art Barron Veterans Center at San Diego State University, Attention Gwen Notestine, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, Ca, 92123-8045.