‘He loved this’
In a long and distinguished career in law enforcement and education, Barry, a retired chief of police in Granby, served HCC as interim director of public safety on two occasions and was founder of the HCC Criminal Justice Academy Summer Youth Program.
In 2017, he received the college’s Distinguished Service Award at Commencement, an honor not typically bestowed on staff or faculty members.
“This work at HCC is payback for getting my career going,” Barry said in a June 2017 story about that award. He noted that he would not have transitioned well from high school directly to a four-year college. “If HCC didn’t get me started,” he said, “I have no idea what I would have wound up doing.”
A native of Norwood, Massachusetts, Barry was a graduate of Agawam High School, HCC, and Castleton State College in Vermont. He went on to earn a master’s degree in criminal justice from Anna Maria College, but it was at HCC, as a criminal justice major, that his interest in law enforcement began.
In his early career, he worked for the Orleans Police Department on Cape Cod, where, for 11 years, he served as patrolman, detective, and then sergeant. In 1988, he was named chief of police for the town of Granby, serving until his 2010 retirement.
About the same time he started as Granby chief, he returned to HCC as an adjunct professor of criminal justice.
Alejandro “Alex” Sanchez ’90 was in one of Barry’s first classes. A few years later, as a police officer in Springfield, he had Barry again as an instructor at the Massachusetts State Police Academy. Sanchez himself joined HCC as a member of the criminal justice faculty in 2006. He and Barry were campus colleagues for nearly 20 years.
“Lou was an amazing guy. A very smart guy,” Sanchez said. “He knew a lot of people, and if you went to him for help or for guidance, or for a name, he had one for you. He helped a lot of people.”
Teaching was just as important to Barry as police work, Sanchez said.
“He taught here,” said Sanchez. “He taught at the academy. He taught night classes at Cambridge College. He also taught at Western New England and at the University of New Hampshire. He was always teaching. Always in the classroom. He loved this.”
In addition, Barry was the founder and coordinator of HCC’s Criminal Justice Academy Summer Youth Program, and served as HCC interim police chief in 2015-2016 and 2018-2019.
He also went on to build a reputation as a private investigator, founding Harris Mountain Investigations, LLC, and serving as a volunteer investigator for the nonprofit Private Investigations for the Missing.
His commitment to the community extended beyond law enforcement. He served two three-year terms on the Granby Board of Selectmen and also created a series of sports-focused children’s camps that fostered community engagement and youth development.
Barry was a deep-sea fisherman, enjoying the waters off Cape Cod. He is survived by his wife, Dianne (Griffen) Barry, sons Nicholas Barry (Jennifer) and Matthew Barry (Elizabeth), grandchildren, and numerous other family members.
We are saddened to learn of the passing of the following members of the HCC community:
Lucille J. Gallagher ’53
Barbara Luce ’63
Donald M. Laduzenski ’64
Francine A. Belden ’68
Christine O’Connell ’71
Francis R. Lafond ’73
Louis M. Barry ’73, retired instructor
Bernard A. Marois ’76
Shirley M. Hardcastle ’76
David A. Volpe ’78
James A. Lewis ’78
Alberta M. Humason ’79
Stuart J. Spafford ’80
Daniel A. Sudsbury ’80
Suzanne F. Soliwoda ’82
Frances Jones ’83
Charlotte D. Conchieri ’83
Dorothy M. Funaro ’91
Kevin M. McMahon ’00
Richard F. Leger
Lawrence A. Leavitt, retired professor
