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Youth and the University of Illinois, 1901-25:
Born on May 6, 1901, Andrew Barr was the oldest son of Andrew
Barr, operator of the Barr Brick Company in Urbana, and Hortense
Call Barr (University of Illinois, '95), a nurse. The Barr children
were Andrew, Catherine, Marion, and John, and the family lived
at 502 South Race Street and 901 West Illinois Street. Young
Andrew attended Urbana schools and graduated from high school
in 1919. At the University of Illinois, he majored in accountancy.
Among his professors were Edward J. Filbey, Hiram T. Scovill,
and Arthur C. Littleton. Andy was a member of Beta Gamma Sigma,
Beta Gamma Psi, and the Commerce Club. He worked during the summers
in the Railway Engineering Department. He was also a four-year
member of the University's Reserve Officers Training Corps, which
had been formed in 1919. He served as a lieutenant and captain
of Troop G in the Brigade's cavalry unit and held an assistantship
in his senior year. His cavalry instructor, captain Robert W.
Grow, became an armored division commander in World War II. On
June 11, 1923, Andrew received a B.S. in Accountancy with honors
and was commissioned a lieutenant in the U. S. Army's Officers'
Reserve Corps. In 1923-24, he held a graduate scholarship in
accountancy, passed the examination for the C.P.A. certificate
on November 16, and obtained a master's degree on June 9, 1924.
Yale and the Securities and Exchange Commission, 1926-41:
In September, 1926, after spending a year with a Chicago public
accounting firm, Andrew Barr accepted an appointment as an Instructor
in Accountancy at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., at $2,500
per year. By 1928 he had completed course requirements for a
doctorate in economics at Yale. In 1930, he was promoted to captain
in the Army Reserves, and in 1931 he became an assistant professor
at Yale. He also taught accountancy at Connecticut College of
Commerce from 1928 to 1935 and at the Yale Law School from 1935
to 1938. He accompanied the Yale baseball team on its 1935 trip
to Japan, did volunteer work for New Haven Taxpayers, Inc., and
participated in Army Reserve training camps in Illinois and Connecticut.
The economic collapse in the early 1930's prompted Congress to
enact legislation creating the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) in 1934. Andrew Barr's Yale contacts with federal financial
officers and corporate accounting practice, coupled with the
effects of the depression on the University, prompted him to
take a SEC position as research accountant in July, 1938. Within
a few months, the McKesson & Robbins case involving a $19,000,000
fraud and accounting malpractice was uncovered. Barr worked on
the case for two years and helped write the investigation report.
$522,400 was recovered from the accounting firm of Price, Waterhouse
& Co. Barr was commissioned a major in the Army Reserve in
October, 1938 and called to active duty on February 5, 1941.
Preparation for Combat, 1941-44:
The development of rival totalitarian states in Europe and the
collapse of the Anglo-French military forces in the first nine
months of World War II caused the United States to begin the
rapid expansion and training of its peacetime army. Responding
to the challenge of mechanized warfare in Europe, the United
States Army established an Armored Force in July, 1940. Major
Andrew Barr was assigned to the 2nd Armored Division at Fort
Benning, Georgia. On April 15, 1941, he became regimental adjutant
when the 3rd Armored Division was formed at Camp Beauregard,
Louisiana. In June, the division moved to the newly built Camp
Polk, Louisiana, and several thousand draftees arrived for military
service. Barr attended an aerial photographic interpretation
school. In January, 1942, he was assigned to operations and training,
as the division supplied cadre's to form new armored divisions.
In February, he attended Command General Staff School, and in
July, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and became G-2 (intelligence
officer) for the 3rd Armored Division. On July 15, the division
trained at the Desert Training Center in California's Mohave
Desert. In October, they moved to Camp Pickett, Virginia, where
the counterintelligence detachment was formed in late December,
1942. From January 15 to August 26, 1943, the division trained
for European combat conditions at Indiantown Gap Military Reservation
in Pennsylvania. On August 13 , LTC Barr left for England. By
September 15, the Division had occupied camps in Wiltshire and
the division headquarters located at Redlynch House in Somerset.
In January and February, 1944, Barr's G-2 Section was organized
for combat operations.
The 3rd Armored Division in Action, 1944-46 :
As a heavy or large armored division, the 3rd did not participate
in the June 6, 1944, landings in Normandy. The division headquarters
officers flew in on June 13 and the division landed in France,
starting on June 23, 1944. The route map of 3rd Armored Division's
"Task Force Lovelady" shows the Division's path through
Europe. The 3rd played important roles in breaking out from the
Normandy beachhead, halting the German counterattack at Mortain,
France, closing the Falaise Gap, intercepting a retreating German
army at Mons, Belgium, crossing the German border on September
12, 1944, checking the main German armored thrusts in the Battle
of the Bulge, capturing Cologne, closing the Rose (Ruhr) Pocket,
and reaching the Elbe River near Dessau on April 17, 1945. In
ten months as a leading element of the First Army's VII Corps,
the division sustained 10,371 casualties, including 2,214 killed
in action. They destroyed fourteen German divisions and took
76,720 prisoners. LTC Andrew Barr's G-2 Section included three
prisoner interrogation teams, a counterintelligence team, a photo
interpretation team, and an order of battle (reports on enemy
units) team. They received, processed, and provided information
on the enemy for combat commanders, other divisions, and higher
headquarters. His Legion of Merit citation commended Barr for
"his masterful analysis of enemy information" and "his
complete and untiring devotion to duty, attention to detail,
and superior ability to gain a clear picture of the condition
of the enemy under all circumstances." It also noted his
"utter adherence to duty and great technical knowledge."
He often mentioned that his investigative experience with the
SEC was excellent preparation for his active military career.
The 3rd Armored Division was withdrawn from combat on April 25,
1945, and placed on inactive status on November 10, 1945. LTC
Barr became the division's Chief of Staff in September, 1945.
Before and after inactivation, he served as the historical editor
of the division's history, Spearhead in the West, 1941-45.
He was promoted to full colonel on May 15, 1946, and discharged
on June 27, 1946.
The Postwar Securities and Exchange Commission, 1946-72:
Andrew Barr's "utter adherence to duty" was a lifelong
characteristic of his public service. Returning to civilian life
in 1946, he resumed his position as a research accountant at
the SEC. The following April, he was promoted to assistant chief
accountant. From 1949 to 1953, he headed the Corporation Finance
Division. From 1956 to his retirement in 1972, he served as the
SEC's chief accountant, and in 1967, he received the SEC's Distinguished
Service Award. He was "adept" in explaining professional
accounting thinking to the SEC and the Commission's views to
the accounting profession. His "prose was precise."
In speeches in the United States and abroad "his oral views
were delivered with conviction and a ring of authority."
Illinois classmate Paul Grady praised Barr's "great ability,
objectivity, integrity, quality of judgment, and dedication to
his work." On March 8, 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower
presented Andrew Barr with the Federal Civilian Distinguished
Service Award. The citation mentioned that his contributions
to the development of accounting principles and accounting presentations
of financial affairs "materially aided the process of capital
formation" and "advanced the cause of investor protection."
In 1963, he was elected to the Accounting Hall of Fame. In 1980,
the University of Illinois Accountancy Department published fifty-seven
of his accounting papers in a 773-page volume.
Retirement and Philanthropy, 1972-95:
After concluding his active service at the SEC, Andrew Barr continued
to dine, bowl, and read at the University Club in Washington
and maintain contacts with the accounting profession. In 1972,
he served as a visiting professor of accountancy at the University
of Illinois. In comments on a 1977 report on auditors' responsibilities,
he supported "the emphasis on accountability and stewardship."
Barr became increasingly involved with military history organizations,
especially the 3rd Armored Division Association, which he helped
create in 1948. He served as its president in 1954-55 and collected
a library relating to World War II. He was instrumental in the
1981 establishment of the 3rd Armored Division Association Archives
at the University of Illinois Archives and its subsequent endowment.
He received honorary degrees from George Washington University
(1985) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1990).
At the University, he provided scholarships for the Accountancy
Department in the College of Commerce and the Nursing Program
in the College of Medicine as well as archives funding. He was
a member of the University Foundation, its Presidents Council,
a charter member of the Library Friends, and a long-time donor
of books and funds to the Library. In 1989, he moved to Clark-Lindsey
Retirement Village in Urbana and continued to take an active
and supportive interest in accounting, medical education, and
the military.
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