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| {{short description|Canadian businessman and musician|bot=PearBOT 5}} | |||
| {{Use Canadian English|date=December 2014}} | |||
| {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2014}} | {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2014}} | ||
| {{Infobox person | {{Infobox person | ||
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| | birth_place = ], Quebec, Canada | | birth_place = ], Quebec, Canada | ||
| | nationality = Canadian (also a citizen of the Bahamas)<ref name=Artnews/> | | nationality = Canadian (also a citizen of the Bahamas)<ref name=Artnews/> | ||
| | occupation = |
| occupation = Musician, founder and CEO of VitaPro, and founder Global Village Champions Foundation | ||
| | known_for = | | known_for = | ||
| | spouse = Yvette Barry | | spouse = Yvette Barry | ||
| }} | }} | ||
| '''Yank Barry''' (born January |
'''Yank Barry''' (born 29 January 1948 as '''Gerald Barry Falovitch''') is a Canadian businessman and musician.<ref name = "extra">{{cite news|title=Sarasota resident fights for peace all over world|url=http://extra.heraldtribune.com/2013/12/26/sarasota/|newspaper=]|date= 26 December 2013|access-date= 25 April 2014}}</ref><ref name = "globeandmail">{{cite news|first=Eric|last=Reguly|title=Yank Barry, motivated by past sins, becomes a philanthropist|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/yank-barry-motivated-by-past-sins-becomes-unlikely-philanthropist/article15574868/|newspaper=]|date= 22 November 2013|access-date= 26 April 2014}}</ref> He is the founder and CEO of VitaPro Foods, a company that makes ] for use as a ] and an apple ] product called ProPectin,<ref name = "extra"/> and is the founder of the Global Village Champions Foundation. He is a musician, songwriter, and music producer who had a stint as the lead singer of the ] band ] in the 1960s. | ||
| ==Early life== | ==Early life== | ||
| Barry was born in ], Canada, in 1948<ref name=World>{{cite news|last=O'Connor|first=Joe|title=The world according to Yank: Montrealer with checkered past gets Nobel nod, or does he?|url=http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/15/yank-barry/|newspaper=]|date= 15 April 2012| |
Barry was born in ], Canada, in 1948<ref name=World>{{cite news|last=O'Connor|first=Joe|title=The world according to Yank: Montrealer with checkered past gets Nobel nod, or does he?|url=http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/15/yank-barry/|newspaper=]|date= 15 April 2012|access-date= 13 June 2014}}</ref> to Arthur Falovitch and Ruth (née Reznick) Falovitch-Pickholtz.<ref name=Obit>{{cite news|title=Ruth (Reznick) Falovitch Obituary|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/montrealgazette/obituary.aspx?n=ruth-falovitch-pickholtz-reznick&pid=132876973|newspaper=]|date= 15 September 2009|access-date=10 May 2014}}</ref> He grew up in the ] and had five siblings.<ref name=Obit/><ref name="Social Notes — Montreal Feb 24, 1961">{{cite news|title=Social Notes – Montreal Feb 24, 1961|url=http://www.multiculturalcanada.ca/node/121818|access-date=10 May 2014|newspaper=]|date=24 February 1961}}</ref> | ||
| ==Musical career== | ==Musical career== | ||
| Barry was singer and bass player of a band called The Footprints during 1966–1968.<ref name=Trueman>{{cite web|last=Trueman|first=Ivor|title=Dreams, Fantasies and Nightmares | Barry was singer and bass player of a band called The Footprints during 1966–1968.<ref name=Trueman>{{cite web|last=Trueman|first=Ivor|title=Dreams, Fantasies and Nightmares | ||
| |url=http://alextsu.narod.ru/borderlinebooks/canada/f4.html | |url=http://alextsu.narod.ru/borderlinebooks/canada/f4.html | ||
| |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514072302/http://alextsu.narod.ru/borderlinebooks/canada/f4.html | |||
| ⚫ | |publisher=borderlinebooks| |
||
| |url-status=dead | |||
| |archive-date=14 May 2014 | |||
| ⚫ | |publisher=borderlinebooks|access-date=13 May 2014}}</ref> The band released three singles through ] and ] before breaking up.<ref name=Trueman/> | ||
| During 1968–1969, while the main band lineup was on hiatus, Barry was the lead singer of the ] band ] (a band most well known for their 1963 raucous hit rendition of ]'s "]").<ref name=Clarification>{{cite news |url=https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/national-post-clarification-yank-barry |title=''National Post'' clarification: Yank Barry |newspaper=]|date= 6 January 2017 |access-date= 13 May 2019}}</ref><ref name="LouieLouie.org">{{cite web |title=Line Up: The Kingsmen |url=http://louielouie.org/line-up/ |access-date=30 March 2019}}</ref> | |||
| Between 1968 and 1970, Barry was the lead singer of a band that toured the East Coast as ] and played the Kingsmen's music. This version of the band was put together by the Kingsmen management, who believed they owned the rights to the name, and toured until the group was disbanded after a ] order was filed by the original group of that name.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110316060331/http://www.louielouie.org/modules.php?name=Kingsmen_Lineup | title=Kingsmen web site historical page | accessdate= 29 May 2014}}</ref> | |||
| In 1971, he recorded a rock opera entitled ''The Diary of Mr. Gray''.<ref name=Manny/> | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | In 1972, Barry ran a record company.<ref name="gazmay22">{{cite news|title=Pair convicted of extorting $82,000 from heir|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19820522&id=qYkxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BKUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1254,288711|access-date=31 May 2014|newspaper=]|date=22 May 1982|page=A3}}</ref> | ||
| ⚫ | Barry wrote the song "Christmas Time Again" that was performed by ] on his 1977 album ''Christmas Tyme''.<ref> |
||
| ⚫ | Barry wrote the song "Christmas Time Again" that was performed by ] on his 1977 album ''Christmas Tyme''.<ref>Engelbert Humperdinck, ''Christmas Tyme'', LP record label art crediting "Y. Barry" for the song "Christmas Time Again".</ref> | ||
| ⚫ | In 1979, he produced performances of the 1974 explicit musical play '']'', in Montreal.<ref>{{cite news|title=Let My People Come (advertisement)|work=]|date=16 June 1979|url= |
||
| ⚫ | In 1979, he produced performances of the 1974 sexually explicit musical play '']'', in Montreal.<ref>{{cite news|title=Let My People Come (advertisement)|work=]|date=16 June 1979|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19790616&id=rIIuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=T6EFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1506,59790|page=12}}</ref> | ||
| ==VitaPro== | ==VitaPro== | ||
| Barry is the CEO of VitaPro Foods Inc. It sells ] soy-based ]s, primarily to prisons and other institutional feeding operations.<ref name = "extra"/> | Barry is the CEO of VitaPro Foods Inc. It sells ] soy-based ]s, primarily to prisons and other institutional feeding operations.<ref name = "extra"/> | ||
| According to an investigative report by the '']'' from October 1998, Global Village Market (GVM) was a venture owned by Barry through which he sold VitaPro.<ref name=World/> |
According to an investigative report by the '']'' from October 1998, Global Village Market (GVM) was a venture owned by Barry through which he sold VitaPro.<ref name=World/> According to an article published by '']'', GVM's shares were listed on the World Investors' Stock Exchange, which was part of an investment fraud carried out by the Caribbean-based ].<ref name=UPI_06232014>{{cite web|last1=Marchant|first1=David|title=Funny Business: Oil or snake oil?|url=http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2002/02/13/Funny-Business-Oil-or-snake-oil/UPI-37991013631483/#ixzz35QBjFJgJ|website=]|access-date=23 June 2014|date=13 February 2002}}</ref> | ||
| Barry developed VitaPro in 1989 or 1990.<ref name=Artnews/><ref>{{cite news|title=Montreal Soy Mogul Charged With Bribery Over Prison Meal Deal|first=Sean|last=Silcoff |
Barry developed VitaPro in 1989 or 1990.<ref name=Artnews/><ref>{{cite news|title=Montreal Soy Mogul Charged With Bribery Over Prison Meal Deal|first=Sean|last=Silcoff|newspaper=]|date= 1 August 2001}}</ref> It was originally a South African venture.<ref name = "extra"/> According to the VitaPro website, the company now operates from ] and ].<ref>{{cite web |title=VitaPro – contact |publisher=VitaPro Foods, Inc. |url=http://www.vitapro.com/vitapro_contact.php |access-date=14 March 2014}}</ref> | ||
| When asked about VitaPro earnings, Barry said: |
When asked about VitaPro earnings, Barry said: "My company is terribly private in a bunch of countries. I'm a resident of the Bahamas. I don't pay tax. I'm not American. Let's say we do over a billion dollars in business. How much I earn is up to me. I give it to kids. I made a deal with God that whatever I save in tax, I give to kids."<ref name=PhilippineDaily>{{cite web|title=He's getting champion fighters to help fight hunger|url=http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/10501/he%E2%80%99s-getting-champion-fighters-to-help-fight-hunger|newspaper=]|access-date=22 June 2014|date=21 August 2011}}</ref> | ||
| Barry also owns another venture called ProPectin, a Bulgarian company he purchased in 2009 that manufactures a pharmaceutical-grade apple ], which Barry credits for having cured his Type II diabetes.<ref name = "extra"/> | Barry also owns another venture called ProPectin, a Bulgarian company he purchased in 2009 that manufactures a pharmaceutical-grade apple ], which Barry credits for having cured his ].<ref name = "extra"/> | ||
| ==Global Village Champions Foundation== | ==Global Village Champions Foundation== | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| Barry founded and heads |
Barry founded and heads the Global Village Champions Foundation.<ref name = "globeandmail"/> The foundation is a registered ] nonprofit in the United States, with self-reported net assets for 2016 of about {{USD}}7,000 and gross receipts of about {{USD}}3,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://990finder.foundationcenter.org/990results.aspx?action=Find&fn=Global+Village+Champions&st=&ei= |via=Internal Revenue Service|date=January 2018|title=IRS Form 990 |author=Global Village Champions Foundation Inc.}}</ref> The foundation was especially active in 2013, for which it reported net assets of about {{USD}}226,000 and gross receipts of about {{USD}}835,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pdfs.citizenaudit.org/2014_10_EO/27-1991507_990_201312.pdf |via=Internal Revenue Service|date=30 August 2014|title=IRS Form 990 |author=Global Village Champions Foundation Inc.}}</ref> The foundation, which is funded by the profits from his VitaPro food business,<ref name=Reuters-Thomson>{{cite web|last1=Batha|first1=Emma|title=Soy protein billionaire plans to buy deserted homes in Bulgaria for Syrian refugees |url=http://www.trust.org/item/20140227044434-kt58n/|publisher=Thomson Reuters Foundation|access-date=20 July 2014|date=27 February 2014}}</ref> said it had supplied 772 million meals to the needy worldwide by April 2012<ref name=World/> and had spent more than {{USD}}1 million feeding and housing Syrian refugees in Bulgaria during 2012–2013.<ref name = "globeandmail"/> The foundation said it had supplied more than 1 billion meals to the needy by early 2015, based on its shipping documents and estimated portion sizes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Charity marks 1 billionth meal for needy with St. Vincent de Paul ceremony |url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2015/01/12/st-vincent-de-paul-meals-abrk/21651975 |first=Jamee |last=Lind |work=] |date=12 January 2015 |access-date=16 May 2019 }}</ref> | ||
| He has befriended several boxing champions who have supported his charitable work. Retired champion boxer ] became Global Village Champions's "Goodwill Ambassador" in 2013.<ref name = "globeandmail"/><ref name=Time2013>{{cite |
He has befriended several boxing champions who have supported his charitable work. Retired champion boxer ] became Global Village Champions's "Goodwill Ambassador" in 2013.<ref name = "globeandmail"/><ref name=Time2013>{{cite magazine|last=Winograd |first=David |url=https://world.time.com/2013/11/14/jewish-schindler-taps-boxing-legend-evander-holyfield-to-help-syrian-refugees/ |title='Jewish Schindler' Taps Boxing Legend Evander Holyfield to Help Syrian Refugees |magazine=] |date=14 November 2013 |access-date=20 June 2014}}</ref> Retired boxer ] has also been his personal friend and has worked with Barry on his humanitarian projects.<ref name=Artnews/><ref name = "third"/> After Barry's involvement in disaster relief in the ], his foundation work has also received support from ] boxer ].<ref name=Manny>{{cite news|title=Yank Barry nominated for Nobel Peace Prize|url=http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20130318/ARTICLE/130319608 |newspaper=]|date= 18 March 2013|access-date= 14 June 2014}}</ref> | ||
| In an interview with '']'' via ] in July 2014, Barry said that he has provided lodging in Bulgaria for 782 refugees from the Middle East, mostly from Syria, in two hotels he secured for {{USD}}3 million.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Weinthal|first1=Benjamin |title=Jewish Schindler rescues Iranian Christians, Syrians and Iraqis |url=http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/Jewish-Schindler-rescues-Iranian-Christians-Syrians-and-Iraqis-369125 |work=]|date=28 July 2014 |access-date=28 July 2014}}</ref> | |||
| ] taped a message supporting what she believed to be a philanthropic cause, which was later used as promotional material for selling investment units in Global Village Market, a for-profit business run by Barry, as well as being featured in the Global Village Champions Foundation website as a supporter. Paul-Andre Martel, the Montreal lawyer representing Dion and her husband said that his clients “have absolutely no involvement with Mr. Barry or his organization”.<ref name=World/> | |||
| === Degas bronzes |
=== Degas bronzes === | ||
| ⚫ | In 2010, Barry obtained a set of 74 bronzes for the Global Village Champions Foundation that were created from plaster casts attributed to ]. The legitimacy of the plasters, which were reportedly discovered in a foundry (Fonderie Valsuani) outside of ], has been questioned by experts, and some have intentionally omitted them in their published description of Degas's body of work. Barry said he paid between {{USD}}7 million and {{USD}}20 million for the bronzes,<ref name=Artnews/> although a dispute later broke out in which the seller said he had only actually received a payment {{USD}}400,000 and that further payments had not been delivered.<ref name=Center>, ''Antiques and Fine Art News'', 3 December 2012.</ref><ref name=Rumble>Shaw, Annie, , ''The Art Newspaper'', 28 November 2013. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140206235953/http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Degas-bronzes-battle-leads-to-rumble-in-the-legal-jungle/31152 |date=6 February 2014 }}</ref> (The dispute was later settled under undisclosed terms.) Conditioned on the presumption that the bronzes were fully authenticated and made from Degas's own plasters, the bronzes were estimated as being worth {{USD}}37 million by a New York dealer in an appraisal Barry obtained in 2011 which the appraiser said was intended for Barry's private use only. In 2010, Barry initially offered 50 of the sculptures as prizes in a raffle to raise money for the foundation, but later withdrew the plan to hold the raffle and shut down the web sites on which it was hosted.<ref name=Artnews/> Barry said the decision to cancel the raffle was in part based on seeing publications that questioned the legitimacy of the bronzes and that he had returned the money that had been raised in the raffle offering up to that point.<ref name=Artnews/> | ||
| {{See also|Edgar_Degas#Sculpture|label 1= Edgar Degas, Sculpture}} | |||
| ⚫ | In 2010, Barry obtained a set 74 bronzes for the Foundation that were created from plaster casts attributed to ]. The legitimacy of the plasters, which were reportedly discovered in a foundry (Fonderie Valsuani) outside of ], has been questioned by experts, and some have intentionally omitted them in their published description of Degas' body of work. Barry said he paid between {{USD}}7 million and {{USD}}20 million for the bronzes,<ref name=Artnews/> although a dispute later broke out in which the seller said he had only actually received a payment {{USD}}400,000 and that further payments had not been delivered.<ref name=Center>, ''Antiques and Fine Art News'', 3 December 2012.</ref><ref name=Rumble>Shaw, Annie, , ''The Art Newspaper'', 28 November |
||
| ==Court cases== | ==Court cases== | ||
| In 1982, Barry was convicted of extortion from and conspiracy against John Royden McConnell, and served 10 months of a 6-year prison term.<ref name = "globeandmail"/><ref name="Advocate">{{cite news|url= |
In 1982, Barry was convicted of extortion from and conspiracy against John Royden McConnell, the man who financed the record company that he was running, and Barry served 10 months of a 6-year prison term on the charges.<ref name = "globeandmail"/><ref name="Advocate">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19960327&id=G7RjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ToEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2054,1032958 |title=Ex-con heads firm at center of prison brouhaha |agency=] |newspaper=] |date=27 March 1996 |access-date=23 April 2014}}</ref> | ||
| In a 1982 civil case, a separate court ruled that Barry had extorted money from McConnell |
In a 1982 civil case, a separate court ruled that Barry had extorted money from McConnell, requiring a financial award of C$285,000.<ref name="gazmay22" /> In 1987 he declared bankruptcy, voiding the award.<ref name=Artnews>{{cite news|url=http://www.artnews.com/2011/08/15/adding-to-the-confusion/|title=Adding to the Confusion|first=William D.|last=Cohan|work=]|date=15 August 2011}}</ref><ref name=Macdonell1998Oct>{{cite news|last=Macdonell|first=Rod|title=Barry faces bribery charge in Texas|newspaper=]|date=10 October 1998}}</ref> Barry said in an October 2013 ] interview that he had been a cocaine-addicted, twenty-something rocker at the time and credited the extortion conviction for changing his personal life.<ref>{{cite interview|title=When I got convicted|interviewer=Larry King |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fli7FMxXgMo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/Fli7FMxXgMo |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|publisher=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> | ||
| In 1998, Barry was indicted on corruption charges related to a VitaPro contract worth {{USD}}34 million with the ].<ref name=Canwest2008/><ref name=Macdonell1998Apr>{{cite news|last1=Macdonell|first1=Rod|title=Local food exec indicted in Texas|work=]|issue=Sunday Final ed |
In 1998, Barry was indicted on corruption charges related to a VitaPro contract worth {{USD}}34 million with the ].<ref name=Canwest2008/><ref>{{cite news |title=Former Texas prison head indicted |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1998/03/31/Former-Texas-prison-head-indicted/3427891320400/ |access-date=August 1, 2021 |work=] |date=March 31, 1998}}</ref><ref name=Macdonell1998Apr>{{cite news|last1=Macdonell|first1=Rod|title=Local food exec indicted in Texas|work=]|issue=Sunday Final ed|date=31 May 1998}}</ref> In 1999, the Texas Supreme Court ruled the VitaPro contract with the Texas prisons was invalid.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hays|first1=Kristen|title=Former Prisons Chief, Vitapro Exec Acquitted|url=https://apnews.com/e4e27903e8c7329fc97b8ce2707b357a|website=]|access-date=23 June 2014|date=9 September 2005}}</ref> After a trial in 2001, he was initially declared guilty, but the verdict was thrown out by a US district court judge and a new trial was ordered in 2007.<ref name=Canwest2008/> He was then acquitted in 2008 after a ].<ref name=Canwest2008>{{cite web|title=Barry acquitted in Texas prison food scandal|url=http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=89002b28-8d38-4104-8430-c817ffff1f7a|website=]|publisher=] MediaWorks Publications Inc. (via the ])|date=25 April 2008|access-date=6 June 2014}}</ref> Barry said the charges were politically motivated.<ref name=Macdonell1998Oct /><ref name=Macdonell1998Apr /> | ||
| In 2014, Barry filed a defamation lawsuit against four Misplaced Pages editors,<ref name="Metronews">{{cite news |last1=Simcoe |first1=Luke |title=Canadian businessman sues Misplaced Pages editors for defamation |url=http://metronews.ca/news/canada/1077668/canadian-businessman-sues-wikipedia-editors-for-defamation/ |access-date=1 August 2021 |work=] |date=25 June 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140627113416/http://metronews.ca/news/canada/1077668/canadian-businessman-sues-wikipedia-editors-for-defamation/ |archive-date=2014-06-27 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Alfonso |first1=Fernando III |title=Misplaced Pages editors hit with $10 million defamation lawsuit |url=http://www.dailydot.com/news/wikipedia-lawsuit-yank-barry-10-million/ |website=] |access-date=1 August 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140625002748/http://www.dailydot.com/news/wikipedia-lawsuit-yank-barry-10-million/ |archive-date=2014-06-25 |date=24 June 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> and then withdrew it after about a month.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Philanthropist Yank Barry prepares to bolster lawsuit against Misplaced Pages editors, strategically withdraws first complaint |url=http://www.prnewschannel.com/2014/07/17/philanthropist-yank-barry-prepares-to-bolster-lawsuit-against-wikipedia-editors-strategically-withdraws-first-complaint/ |website=PR NewsChannel |access-date=August 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140727001436/http://www.prnewschannel.com/2014/07/17/philanthropist-yank-barry-prepares-to-bolster-lawsuit-against-wikipedia-editors-strategically-withdraws-first-complaint/#selection-1143.3-1143.16 |archive-date=2014-07-27 |date=July 17, 2014 |url-status=usurped}}</ref> | |||
| ==Personal life== | ==Personal life== | ||
| Barry is married to Yvette Barry, formerly an appraiser at an art gallery in ].<ref name = "extra"/> He is a resident of the ],<ref name=PhilippineDaily/> and a part-time resident of the ].<ref name = "extra"/><ref name=third>{{cite news|first=Billy|last=Cox|title=Sarasota man again nominated for Nobel prize|url=http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20140312/ARTICLE/140319870|newspaper=]|date= 12 March 2014| |
Barry is married to Yvette Barry, formerly an appraiser at an art gallery in ].<ref name = "extra"/> He is a resident of the ],<ref name=PhilippineDaily/> and a part-time resident of the ].<ref name = "extra"/><ref name=third>{{cite news|first=Billy|last=Cox|title=Sarasota man again nominated for Nobel prize|url=http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20140312/ARTICLE/140319870|newspaper=]|date= 12 March 2014|access-date= 25 April 2014}}</ref> | ||
| He was previously married to Daveda M. Kert, with whom he had |
He was previously married to Daveda M. Kert, with whom he had a daughter, Lelanea Anne Barry, who died suddenly in 2004 at the age of 35.<ref name="gazmay22"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Lelanea Anne Barry (obituary) |url=http://www.federationgenealogie.qc.ca/avisdeces/avis/pdf?id=18207 |access-date=1 August 2021 |work=] |date=12 January 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714215632/http://www.federationgenealogie.qc.ca/avisdeces/avis/pdf?id=18207 |archive-date=2014-07-14 |url-status=dead |via=Fédération québécoise des sociétés de généalogie}}</ref> | ||
| ==References== | ==References== | ||
| {{Reflist| |
{{Reflist|33em}} | ||
| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
| {{Commons category|Yank Barry}} | {{Commons category|Yank Barry}} | ||
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| * | * | ||
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| {{Authority control}} | |||
| {{Persondata | |||
| | NAME = Barry, Yank | |||
| | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | |||
| | SHORT DESCRIPTION = Canadian musician | |||
| | DATE OF BIRTH = 29 January 1948 | |||
| | PLACE OF BIRTH = Montreal, Quebec, Canada | |||
| | DATE OF DEATH = | |||
| | PLACE OF DEATH = | |||
| }} | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Yank}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Yank}} | ||
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Latest revision as of 12:28, 17 November 2024
Canadian businessman and musician
| Yank Barry | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Gerald Barry Falovitch (1948-01-29) 29 January 1948 (age 76) Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian (also a citizen of the Bahamas) |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, founder and CEO of VitaPro, and founder Global Village Champions Foundation |
| Spouse | Yvette Barry |
Yank Barry (born 29 January 1948 as Gerald Barry Falovitch) is a Canadian businessman and musician. He is the founder and CEO of VitaPro Foods, a company that makes textured vegetable protein for use as a meat substitute and an apple pectin product called ProPectin, and is the founder of the Global Village Champions Foundation. He is a musician, songwriter, and music producer who had a stint as the lead singer of the garage rock band The Kingsmen in the 1960s.
Early life
Barry was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1948 to Arthur Falovitch and Ruth (née Reznick) Falovitch-Pickholtz. He grew up in the Jewish community of Montreal and had five siblings.
Musical career
Barry was singer and bass player of a band called The Footprints during 1966–1968. The band released three singles through Columbia and Capitol Records before breaking up.
During 1968–1969, while the main band lineup was on hiatus, Barry was the lead singer of the garage rock band The Kingsmen (a band most well known for their 1963 raucous hit rendition of Richard Berry's "Louie Louie").
In 1971, he recorded a rock opera entitled The Diary of Mr. Gray.
In 1972, Barry ran a record company.
Barry wrote the song "Christmas Time Again" that was performed by Engelbert Humperdinck on his 1977 album Christmas Tyme.
In 1979, he produced performances of the 1974 sexually explicit musical play Let My People Come, in Montreal.
VitaPro
Barry is the CEO of VitaPro Foods Inc. It sells textured vegetable protein soy-based meat substitutes, primarily to prisons and other institutional feeding operations.
According to an investigative report by the Montreal Gazette from October 1998, Global Village Market (GVM) was a venture owned by Barry through which he sold VitaPro. According to an article published by UPI, GVM's shares were listed on the World Investors' Stock Exchange, which was part of an investment fraud carried out by the Caribbean-based First International Bank of Grenada.
Barry developed VitaPro in 1989 or 1990. It was originally a South African venture. According to the VitaPro website, the company now operates from Belize and Bulgaria.
When asked about VitaPro earnings, Barry said: "My company is terribly private in a bunch of countries. I'm a resident of the Bahamas. I don't pay tax. I'm not American. Let's say we do over a billion dollars in business. How much I earn is up to me. I give it to kids. I made a deal with God that whatever I save in tax, I give to kids."
Barry also owns another venture called ProPectin, a Bulgarian company he purchased in 2009 that manufactures a pharmaceutical-grade apple pectin, which Barry credits for having cured his Type II diabetes.
Global Village Champions Foundation
Barry founded and heads the Global Village Champions Foundation. The foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the United States, with self-reported net assets for 2016 of about US$7,000 and gross receipts of about US$3,000. The foundation was especially active in 2013, for which it reported net assets of about US$226,000 and gross receipts of about US$835,000. The foundation, which is funded by the profits from his VitaPro food business, said it had supplied 772 million meals to the needy worldwide by April 2012 and had spent more than US$1 million feeding and housing Syrian refugees in Bulgaria during 2012–2013. The foundation said it had supplied more than 1 billion meals to the needy by early 2015, based on its shipping documents and estimated portion sizes.
He has befriended several boxing champions who have supported his charitable work. Retired champion boxer Evander Holyfield became Global Village Champions's "Goodwill Ambassador" in 2013. Retired boxer Muhammad Ali has also been his personal friend and has worked with Barry on his humanitarian projects. After Barry's involvement in disaster relief in the Philippines, his foundation work has also received support from Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao.
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post via Skype in July 2014, Barry said that he has provided lodging in Bulgaria for 782 refugees from the Middle East, mostly from Syria, in two hotels he secured for US$3 million.
Degas bronzes
In 2010, Barry obtained a set of 74 bronzes for the Global Village Champions Foundation that were created from plaster casts attributed to Edgar Degas. The legitimacy of the plasters, which were reportedly discovered in a foundry (Fonderie Valsuani) outside of Paris, has been questioned by experts, and some have intentionally omitted them in their published description of Degas's body of work. Barry said he paid between US$7 million and US$20 million for the bronzes, although a dispute later broke out in which the seller said he had only actually received a payment US$400,000 and that further payments had not been delivered. (The dispute was later settled under undisclosed terms.) Conditioned on the presumption that the bronzes were fully authenticated and made from Degas's own plasters, the bronzes were estimated as being worth US$37 million by a New York dealer in an appraisal Barry obtained in 2011 which the appraiser said was intended for Barry's private use only. In 2010, Barry initially offered 50 of the sculptures as prizes in a raffle to raise money for the foundation, but later withdrew the plan to hold the raffle and shut down the web sites on which it was hosted. Barry said the decision to cancel the raffle was in part based on seeing publications that questioned the legitimacy of the bronzes and that he had returned the money that had been raised in the raffle offering up to that point.
Court cases
In 1982, Barry was convicted of extortion from and conspiracy against John Royden McConnell, the man who financed the record company that he was running, and Barry served 10 months of a 6-year prison term on the charges.
In a 1982 civil case, a separate court ruled that Barry had extorted money from McConnell, requiring a financial award of C$285,000. In 1987 he declared bankruptcy, voiding the award. Barry said in an October 2013 Larry King interview that he had been a cocaine-addicted, twenty-something rocker at the time and credited the extortion conviction for changing his personal life.
In 1998, Barry was indicted on corruption charges related to a VitaPro contract worth US$34 million with the Texas prisons. In 1999, the Texas Supreme Court ruled the VitaPro contract with the Texas prisons was invalid. After a trial in 2001, he was initially declared guilty, but the verdict was thrown out by a US district court judge and a new trial was ordered in 2007. He was then acquitted in 2008 after a bench retrial. Barry said the charges were politically motivated.
In 2014, Barry filed a defamation lawsuit against four Misplaced Pages editors, and then withdrew it after about a month.
Personal life
Barry is married to Yvette Barry, formerly an appraiser at an art gallery in Sarasota, Florida. He is a resident of the Bahamas, and a part-time resident of the Sarasota area. He was previously married to Daveda M. Kert, with whom he had a daughter, Lelanea Anne Barry, who died suddenly in 2004 at the age of 35.
References
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- Marchant, David (13 February 2002). "Funny Business: Oil or snake oil?". UPI. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
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- "Philanthropist Yank Barry prepares to bolster lawsuit against Misplaced Pages editors, strategically withdraws first complaint". PR NewsChannel (Press release). 17 July 2014. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - "Lelanea Anne Barry (obituary)". Montreal Gazette. 12 January 2004. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2021 – via Fédération québécoise des sociétés de généalogie.
External links
Categories:- 1948 births
- Living people
- Anglophone Quebec people
- Businesspeople from Montreal
- Canadian art collectors
- Canadian expatriates in the Bahamas
- Canadian male composers
- Jewish Canadian musicians
- 21st-century Canadian philanthropists
- Canadian record producers
- Canadian male songwriters
- Musicians from Montreal
- Writers from Montreal
- The Kingsmen members
- Jewish Canadian writers