JOHN BARNUM

BARNUM--John Wallace.

John Wallace Barnum, an attorney who helped guide major changes in U.S. transportation as a senior official in the Nixon and Ford administrations, died on July 23, 2018, in Waquoit, MA. He was 89 and lived in Washington, D.C. He had a voracious appetite for life and new adventures, a keen intellect, an endless capacity for hard work, and a loving devotion to his family and friends. His mother's advice, "When in doubt, do it," guided him throughout his life. He was born August 25, 1928, in New York City, the son of Emma Frances Long and William Wallace Atterbury, who was president of the Pennsylvania Railroad from 1925 until his death in 1935. John's mother married Walter Barnum in 1938. He graduated from St. Paul's School in 1945 and Yale University in 1949. After college, he worked in finance in Tangier, Paris and London, and served in the U.S. Army as a tank platoon leader in Korea before deciding on a career in the law. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1957. From 1957 to 1971, he was an associate and then partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York, where he represented Bethlehem Steel, Chemical Bank, CIBA-Geigy (Novartis), Firestone, General Motors, and Nestle, among other clients, in antitrust and other cases. His work at Cravath was rewarding, but he jumped at the opportunity for public service. In the Nixon and Ford administrations, he served as general counsel and then as deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Transportation. His proudest achievement was helping to convert the six bankrupt railroads in the Northeast, including the former Pennsylvania Railroad that his father had led a half century before, into Conrail. As deputy secretary to three Transportation secretaries, he also helped to launch deregulation of the railroad and airline industries; negotiated the flight and landing rights of the Concorde Supersonic Transport; and worked on the Law of the Sea Treaty. After public service, he was a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He also co-founded and served as director of Palmer National Bank, a small Washington bank. In 1978, he returned to private law practice at White & Case as executive partner in its Washington office until he retired in 1994. In his "retirement," he and his wife Nancy moved to Europe, where he joined McGuireWoods as a partner in their Brussels office and became managing partner of the firm's office in Almaty, Kazakhstan. They returned to Washington in 2011. The arts were a life-long love, and he used his legal expertise to help arts organizations, serving on the boards of the New York City Center for Music and Drama, Arena Stage in Washington, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. He was also president of the U.S. Federation of Friends of Museums. He is survived by Nancy G. Barnum, his wife of 60 years; their children and partners, Alex Barnum and Nina Martin, Sarah Barnum and Joe Rabatin, and Cam Barnum and Jan O'Malley; and four grandchildren, Alexander, Simon, Oscar and Lucy. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, October 20, at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Medecins Sans Frontieres.