Barry Oringer

Barry Oringer

Barry Oringer died January 10, 2021, peacefully at his home in Novato, CA, from complications of Lewy Body Disease. He was 85 years old. He is survived by his daughters Tobi and Annie and quasi son-in-law Alijah; his big sister Selma; his grandsons Brooklyn, Noah, and Logan; the rest of his extended family, nephews, niece, their children, and theirs, and countless cousins; and his beloved and loving wife, Janine. He was once the baby in the family.

He was born December 3, 1935 in New York and grew up on the lower East side, attending Rabbi Jacob Joseph Yeshiva, referred to by the boys there as the Penitentiary, and where he was known for his creative acts of rebellion. It was later determined he would be happier at a different school, and he transferred to and graduated from Yeshiva University High School where he won a New York State Scholarship. Before college, he spent four months hitchhiking through Israel, ending with a grueling 100K hike across the southern Negev to the austere army outpost that was then Eilat, the only American among over a hundred pre-army Israeli kids on a survival trek. It was a trip that forever formed him.

He studied dramatic writing and received his B.A. in English and Drama from Brooklyn College, where he won first prize in the Samuel French National Collegiate Playwriting Contest for his one act play, Son of the Revolution. Unsuited for the usual occupations for Jewish boys, Barry moved to Hollywood to become a writer. There he attended U.C.L.A.'s Theater Arts Department where he won the Samuel Goldwyn Award for a still unfinished novel. His breakthrough came via a screenplay about the first rehab community for recovering drug addicts, Synanon. Barry later moved into Synanon with his family. They left there in 1973, before Synanon imploded. Barry wrote for many series, his favorites being the old classics: Ben Casey, The Fugitive, I Spy, Mannix, Barnaby Jones, and The F.B.I. He was proud to have written one of the first gay-themed television shows that aired on network television with his episode "Impasse," written for Medical Center, that aired on October 1, 1973. Barry also wrote many television movies and produced several of his own and others.

Barry lived in Northern California after retiring, met Janine in Los Angeles in 1998, and married her in 2001 after she moved to the Bay Area in 2000 to share with him her life, much love, and many laughs.

Barry enjoyed and valued his friendships – those of his childhood, youth, school, and years in the Jewish Socialist Israel Kibbutz Movement; the friends of his maturity, including a group of men who call themselves the Liars Club with roots stretching back to the Synanon "game;" and finally to a friend in fellowship he never met but had known for over 31 years.

Barry was buried at Bolinas Cemetery. A memorial will follow at a later date. Donations to help feed the hungry will honor his spirit.