By KEVIN CANFIELD World Staff Writer on Apr 5, 2013, at 2:25 AM??Updated on 4/05 at 9:18 AM
City councilors and Mayor Dewey Bartlett unveiled a plaque in City Council chambers Thursday night honoring former Tulsa World reporter Brian Barber.Barber, 39, died Jan. 9 after a long struggle with heart failure and complications caused by anti-rejection drugs related to two heart transplants.
He became a reporter for the World in 1996 and started covering City Hall in 2004.
"We thought it would be great for (us) to have a very small little plaque announcing to the world that this was Brian's place - this is where he did his craft and this is where he did his work," Bartlett told Barber's parents, Larry and Janice Barber. "We all miss him dearly."
The plaque, which reads, "News Media Center, In Memory of Brian Barber, Tulsa World City beat reporter, 2004-2013," is affixed to the short room-divider wall that designates the area where journalists who cover the meetings sit.
"The City Council, the mayor and the Tulsa World just made the whole situation so much better," Larry Barber said outside the council chambers after the unveiling. "It would have been so much harder on Janice and I and Monica, our daughter."
Councilor Karen Gilbert said after the meeting that Barber did a lot for the community by keeping the public aware of what was going on in city government.
"And it is our way of honoring him for all that he did," Gilbert said.
Councilor G.T. Bynum, who became a good friend of Barber's, said he still sees him every time he walks into council chambers.
"I think it is a wonderful way for other people years from now who didn't even have the pleasure of knowing him to see him there, too," Bynum said.
City Council Chairman David Patrick announced that Barber will be the first reporter to be honored on a newly created "In Honor Of" plaque that recognizes journalists who contribute to the city through their work. The plaque will also hang in the council chambers.
"Brian was a person we all loved," Patrick said.
Kevin Canfield 918-581-8313
kevin.canfield@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Plaque in council chambers honors former World reporter
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