Page 1 - The Pi Kappa Gator - Summer 2014

Summer 2014 | Alumni Relations Offce | P.O. Box 80828, Atlanta, Georgia 30366 | 770-903-3987 A Word AlumniSpotlight: Pete Barr ’54 from the Chairman Dear Brothers: Once again, the summer months are upon us and I wanted to take this opportunity to recap what turned out to be an extremely successful year for Pi Kappa Phi at U of F. There are four important topics I would like to cover in this update…. The Chapter: We closed out the Spring Semester with 106 active Brothers, up from 95 the prior semester: 43 lived on site at the house and on average we fed 72 Pete with his truck Betsy. men per week in the dining hall. Once again AE faired extremely well on campus this past year in rom the hometown suffered from a severe case of homesickness and the areas of athletics, scholarship Fof Washington, D.C., eventually returned home. and philanthropic work. We are Pete Barr, AE 512 is That spring, Nancy, who had grown into a expecting a strong contingent back the co-owner of Fry, beautiful and spunky Tri-Delt, was selected as the in the fall and anticipate a strong Hammond & Barr, a very Rose Queen of AE. They became engaged before Rush Week come September. successful advertising Pete even had time to pin her. Pete and Nancy 11 Fraternity Row: During our married after their sophomore year as planned. Annual meeting in February, the company in Florida. Basketball, the fraternity, education, and a wife Currently retired, Pete’s Board of Trustees decided that we proved to be too much, so basketball was cut out. would look to squeeze another year son, Pete Jr., is now Pete remained good friends with the coach, playing out of the current Chapter House. running the show while golf together over the years. After 50 years of This would allow us to complete his other son, Bill, a playing golf, he recently purchased a Taylor Made our Capital Campaign and better banker at JP Morgan, advises them fnancially. driver and a new set of Ping irons to enjoy! position us for the new house we The tale of Pete Barr begins back in 1949. A A Communications major, Pete attended a are looking to build. Our Building young man in high school, living in Stuart, FL, symposium where he met Chuck Fry and Bob Committee under Bill Charland Pete met his future wife Nancy. After dating for Hammond. As the job offers from companies ’82 & Tim Rurey ’84 have done a a year, Pete’s father passed away suddenly and he like AT&T rolled in, Pete decided to take a trip great job refurbishing the bathrooms was forced to move back to DC to fnish school. to meet with Fry for the day. An easy decision – and this past Fall we purchased new During this time, Pete and Nancy stayed in touch, Pete decided to work for Fry and started the next tables and chairs for the dining room and devised a plan to attend UF together after Monday. Pete and Nancy relocated to Orlando, as well as furniture for the Alumni their high school graduation. and after a few years of working, their frst son, Area. The building will be painted It was during this time that Pete was frst Pete Jr., was born. Bob Hammond had his own this summer and should be in great introduced to advertising by one outstanding agency at the time. His agency was struggling, shape for the coming year. instructor (a neighbor of Richard Nixon!). so they convinced him to join them. Fry would Annual Founders Day Meeting: From this point on, Pete’s dream was to work say “whenever I enter a room, I wait to be invited Our goal over the past fve years in advertising. After graduation, Pete packed up to sit down. Barr grabs the frst chair.” The guys has been to grow the attendance at and moved down to Gainesville to attend UF and enjoyed launching new products, new companies, our annual gathering…year over play basketball. etc. Their clients included companies like Disney, year. This year we had alumni The school President, Dr. Miller, was a fraternal Tupperware, and Florida Tile. representation from the 50’s led by brother of his father, and encouraged him to join Florida Tile was particularly enjoyed by Pete, the Teen Timers to the mid 2000’s their fratenity. As the fall Rush approached, as he helped come up with product names in crossing a span of 50+ years. Our Pete did not have a particular selection in mind. addition to the advertising. “The creative ‘ground Saturday morning business session One night, while hanging out in the dorm with foor’ was fun,” said Pete. Many of his clients was capped off with a lunch where his roommate – a big-time athlete on campus even became good life long friends. After many 175 alumni and active brothers – a few Pi Kapp brothers came by to invite the successful years with the company, Pete bought roommate to a gathering. Pete tagged along and Chairman (Continued on Page 3) ended up pledging Alpha Epsilon. The roommate Barr (Continued on Page 4)