Barry L Weisberg

Barry L. Weisberg, born August 15, 1944, passed away on August 13, 2021, age 76. He was born in Los Angeles, California to Louis and Sarah Weisberg. He is survived by his three,children, Noah Weisberg, Amy Weisberg and Edward Rose, his five grandchildren, Daniel, Noah Jr., Veronica, Alivia and Ariel and niece and nephew Zachary and Kimberly.

Barry grew up in Los Angeles, California with his brother, Steven Weisberg, and graduated from U.C. Berkeley. He moved to Chicago, Illinois with his ex-wife, Gail (Rubin) Weisberg, whomsurvives him and two children where he spent most of his adult life. After his divorce, Barry re-married to Leoduris (Rose) Weisberg, who passed away in 2011 and was mother to 3 sons, Emory, Edward and Eugene. Two of her sons have passed away.

Barry loved travelling, having visited nearly half of the countries in the world. He found value and knowledge in the people and the places of the world. He graduated from John Marshall Law School. While pursuing his Ph.D from the University of Illinois at Chicago, writing his dissertation, he studied and lived in China where he was the Global Cities Commentator for Chicago Public Radio, WBEZ. After his wife’s passing, he spent many years living in Thailand.

He fought for human rights throughout his life becoming a consultant to the United Nations as an expert on megacities, global violence and global peace. He wrote the first book on Ecocide, managed a political campaign on the East Coast and a public media campaign to help free two, wrongly convicted 14 and 15 year old boys from a sentence of life imprisonment in Indiana. Barry co-founded the Chicago Build the Peace Committee in participation with The Peace School and Chicago’s annual Peace Day. Throughout his life, Barry worked for the Cook County Public Defender, taught as an Adjunct Professor and ran a non-profit organization in the Chicago community of North Lawndale. He worked to elect Mayor Harold Washington and on the presidential campaign for the Reverend Jesse Jackson. He participated in hundreds of speaking engagements and authored numerous articles and power point presentations on his areas of expertise.

Barry enjoyed spending the little free time he allowed himself laying on the beach soaking in the warm sun. He loved swimming and passed up an opportunity to be in the Olympics to fight the “good fight.” From swimming came scuba diving which he was able to enjoy around the world. He spent years trying to advance the understanding and enjoyment of the arts by participating in the creation of the Reicheck Retrospective from the works of Jesse Reicheck. Barry had a music
collection to be desired and sought out a good meal. He was a “foodie” well before the term was invented. He was known for his homemade salad dressing which was enjoyed at the many, family dinners.

Barry will be missed in this world.

A service will be held on August 28, 2021, 4:30 p.m., Oak Park Conservatory, 615 Garfield St., Oak Park, IL. Masks are required at the Conservatory. Due to Covid, in-person limits exist so please contact a family member or email: barryweisberg@att.net to confirm attendance. Condolence messages can be left at: https://chicagolandcremationoptions.com/obituary.

To learn more, Barry maintained a website: www.barryweisberg.info.