Barry was born in Armonk, New York,
where his father, David Barry, Sr., was a Presbyterian
minister. He was educated at Pleasantville High School,
where he was elected class clown in 1965, and at Haverford
College, where he played in the Federal Duck (a student
rock band) and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in
English in 1969. As the son of a minister and an alumnus
of a Quaker-affiliated college, Barry avoided military
service during the Vietnam War by registering as a
religious conscientious objector even though, as he
declared in a 2001 interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
he had decided he "was an atheist early on."
His journalism career began as a reporter with the
Daily Local News, in West Chester, Pennsylvania, "where
he covered a series of incredibly dull municipal meetings,
some of which are still going on." In 1975, Barry
joined Burger Associates, a consulting firm. He taught
effective writing to business people. In his own words,
he "spent nearly eight years trying to get his
students to stop writing things like `Enclosed please
find the enclosed enclosures,' but he eventually realized
that it was hopeless." In 1983, Barry started
working as a humor columnist for the Miami Herald.
Barry won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1988, "for
his consistently effective use of humor as a device
for presenting fresh insights into serious concerns."
For a 1992 American Booksellers Association convention,
several authors including Barry formed a band for charity:
The Rock Bottom Remainders (a publishing term for books
that don't sell). The members of the band, which has
at various times included Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley
Pearson, Mitch Albom, Kathy Goldmark, Roy Blount Jr.,
Barbara Kingsolver, and Matt
Groening, "are not
musically skilled, but they are extremely loud," according
to Barry. The band's road tour resulted in the book
Mid-Life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour
America with Three Chords and an Attitude, which is
now out of print.
CBS broadcast the situation comedy Dave's World for
four seasons, from 1993 to 1997, based on the books
Dave Barry Turns 40 and Dave Barry's Greatest Hits,
starring Harry Anderson as Barry, and DeLane Matthews
as his wife, Beth. In an early episode, Barry was cast
in a cameo role. The program was canceled shortly after
being moved from Monday to the Friday night death slot.
Barry's first novel, Big Trouble, was made into a
motion picture, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, starring
Tim Allen, Rene Russo and Patrick Warburton, with a
cameo by Barry. The movie was originally due for release
in late 2001, but was postponed shortly after the September
11, 2001 Terrorist Attack because the story involved
smuggling a nuclear weapon onto an airplane.
Barry and his wife, Beth, welcomed a son, Rob, in
1980. The Barrys divorced in the mid-1990s. In 1996,
Barry married Miami Herald sportswriter Michelle Kaufman;
they had a daughter, Sophie, in 2000. All are mentioned
regularly in Barry's columns.
Barry once picked up his son Rob from Junior High
School while driving the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. |
