Morgan Ridgway Barker

1932 - 2022

Morgan Ridgway Barker 1932 - 2022 Morgan Ridgway Barker, Sr., a resident of Sausalito, CA since 2011, died peacefully at home on April 6, 2022, aged 89, with his wife by his side. Born on November 7, 1932, he graduated from The Haverford School in Haverford, PA, class of 1950 and later, Cornell University, class of 1955, where he received a BA in Economics. He served from 1974-1980 as a member of the Board of Trustees of The Haverford School. He was a long-standing member of The Rotary Club of Norristown, PA and, like his father, he enjoyed flying and was a licensed Piper Cub pilot and owner. Until his retirement in 1997, Morgan was owner and president of Barker Pipe Fittings Co., located in Norristown, and of Penflex Corporation, located in Exton, PA. Morgan's passionate interest for nearly 60 years was sailing, an interest he shared with and passed on to his family. In all things nautical he was mentored by his dearest friend from their Haverford school days, William Gray (Bill) Warden, III, late of Newtown Square, PA. Morgan spent many happy days at the wheel of various sailing yachts he owned, which grew incrementally in length, from 36 to 52 feet. He became a life member of the Corinthian Yacht Club of Philadelphia and was elected Commodore in 1982-1984. In 1972, 1978 and 1980, he and his crew of friends and family joined an international sailing fleet to race 635 nautical miles of open ocean from Newport to Bermuda. In 1986, aboard Morgan's Swan 47, Mandate, they took a division prize in the Rolex Swan Atlantic Regatta. In 1978, Morgan was inducted into the Cruising Club of America (CCA). At the time of his death, he was a member of the CCA-San Francisco station. In 2004, he and the former Diane Hutson-Wiley married, and in 2009 they relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area. Morgan never stopped learning and read voraciously. He joined the 10,000 Degrees Academic Tutors' Program, volunteers in support of teachers of K-12 students in Marin County. He was able, as he wished, to serve as a math tutor in two local elementary and a middle school. He looked forward to every day with the children and to praising their successes while encouraging improvement. He was proud of his Free Quaker and abolitionist heritage, his Colonial New England and Virginia roots, and keen to share with his children and stepchildren how they are distantly related to each other. Morgan is survived by his wife Diane; his three sons from his early marriage, namely Morgan Ridgway Barker, Jr. (Maria), Robert Powell Barker (Lisa) and Nathaniel Sands Barker (Lien); his stepchildren Catherine Hutson-Wiley Abecassis, Anne S. Colasanto (John) and Thomas W. Hutson-Wiley (Tinsley); his sister-in-law Elizabeth W. Barker (widow of his brother Joseph); many nieces and nephews; 10 grandchildren; six step-grandchildren; and his first great-grandchild Theodore (Theo) Morgan. Morgan asked that his ashes be scattered on seas that he sailed. A memorial gathering has not yet been held.