Barbara Packard

1932 - 2022

Barbara Packard
February 13, 1932 - May 21, 2022
Barbara Packard passed peacefully of natural causes at Stanford Hospital on May 21, 2022, at the age of 90.
Barbara was born in Orange, California to Byron and Viola (née Lyon) Bentley, and grew up in Los Angeles, where she attended Hollywood High School. After graduating, she entered Stanford University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1954 and a master's in 1955, both in mathematics. There at Stanford she met John Packard. It came as a surprise to everyone when the smartest girl in the class and the rowdy fraternity president fell in love. But they brought out the best in each other, and their bond deepened and lasted until the end of their days,
After graduation, marriage, and the birth of Dana and Bob during John's stint as an Air Force flight instructor, they returned to the Bay Area, where Barbara worked as a mathematician for NASA's Ames Research Center while John completed his MBA at Stanford. Soon after, the family grew to include two more daughters, Becky and Leslie. Later Barbara joined Hewlett-Packard, eventually becoming an R&D engineer and manager while she earned a second Stanford master's degree, this time in computer science. Barbara worked on several key projects at HP and managed a portion of the groundbreaking NewWave project, which influenced the early development of Microsoft's Windows.
Barbara came from a family of teachers, and in the Packard family, nothing was valued more highly than education. She passed on her love of higher learning to her children. John and Barbara supported their beloved alma mater Stanford generously, from fundraising to reunion organizing to endowing multiple scholarships and faculty chairs.
From an early age Barbara showed great intellectual curiosity and a sense of adventure, which eventually took her around the globe, including to such far-flung locales as the Galápagos Islands, China, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, along with several treks to Nepal. She once attended a dinner where the host placed her next to Sir Edmund Hillary, and they chatted all evening about their shared love of the Himalayas. In later years Barbara wasn't able to travel as easily, but she still managed to spend as much time as possible at her favorite place in the entire world, her second home on Maui.
Barbara's activities and interests resulted in numerous enduring friendships. Although she was far from a typical mother, she loved her children deeply and adored her grandchildren. She is survived by her brother Donald (Penny), daughters Dana Dooley (Byron), Becky Nagy (Ted), Leslie Martin (Tony), and grandchildren Lauren, Cassie, Sam, Madeleine, Booker, and Robert, as well as her caregiver, Ina, who in the final years became her close friend. She was predeceased by her beloved husband John and only son Robert. We miss her terribly and are so proud to be the daughters of such an exceptional woman.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Barbara's name to the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, or another charity of the donor's choice, would be greatly appreciated. In accordance with her wishes, the family will attend a private ceremony to scatter her ashes at sea.