Fuquay-Varina couple gives $1 million to Campbell

     Fuquay-Varina entrepreneur Robert J. Barker and his wife, Patricia, have donated $1 million toward the construction of the John W. Pope Jr. Convocation Center at Campbell University. With a 3,000-seat capacity, the $30 million Center will serve as a venue for sporting and cultural events for the entire Harnett County region.
     Barker, who began his business career selling slushy machines to convenience stores, is the CEO and chairman of the board of the Bob Barker Company, Inc., the nation’s leading manufacturer and distributor of detention supplies for correctional institutions. He graduated from Campbell in 1965, and has continued to be a loyal supporter and benefactor of the university. Barker currently serves on Campbell’s Board of Trustees as chairman of the executive committee and is the chairman of the capital fundraising campaign for the John W. Pope Jr. Convocation Center. He has also served on Campbell’s Presidential Board of Advisors. In 2001, the university’s Adam Smith Club presented him with its highest honor, the Free Enterprise Award. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Campbell in 2000.
Invested in the affairs of the community and the state, Barker was elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1972 and served as mayor of the towns of Fuquay-Varina and Apex. He is a current member and past president of the Fuquay-Varina Chamber of Commerce and was a founding member and past chairman of the Fuquay-Varina Education Foundation. He is also a founding member of the Fuquay-Varina New Century Group and the Industrial Managers Association and past chairman of the Fuquay-Varina Economic Development Council. In 1994, Barker was named Fuquay-Varina’s “Outstanding Citizen of the Year” and early in his career was chosen one of the three Outstanding Young Men in North Carolina by the North Carolina Jaycees.
     “Pat and I both are very excited about what Campbell University means to the state and to the nation,” Barker said. “In my case, the university provided me an education at a time in my life when I was married and had not finished college. Campbell is in our thoughts all of the time. The quality Christian education students get at Campbell means so much to our country. We just want to be a small part of it.”
     The Barkers are members of Woodhaven Baptist Church, where he has served as a deacon and trustee. They are the parents of two children, Nancy Ellen Barker and Robert J. Barker, Jr.
 

Bulletin 0009-6/026/05