By MICHAEL LACHES
Here in the heart of North Carolina, one man’s legacy was built on the foundations of faith, hard work, innovation, perseverance, community service, and an unwavering belief in providing second chances.
I sat down with Robert J. “Bob” Barker at his Fuquay-Varina office to discuss the unique and compelling path he took to achieve business success, community engagement, and philanthropy — a path that has left an indelible mark on North Carolina. I should note that in addition to the interview, Barker allowed me to use content from his autobiography titled “I’m in Cells.”
Barker grew up in a Depression-era cotton mill village in Cherryville, North Carolina. His parents, Nally and Bell Barker, raised him in the Christian faith and taught him the value of hard work and instilled in him a passion for what’s important in life. These lessons have been a North Star for Barker.
“These were close-knit villages, and as such, the families in the community were very close. My father, both before and after retirement, worked in the church constantly. He gave us all a strong sense of faith. We were all believers,” Barker said.
During those early years in Cherryville, Barker recalled how everyone worked. The salary of a textile worker only went so far. Some of his earliest childhood jobs included delivering the local newspaper and working as a kind of jack of all trades at the community grocery store.
Barker graduated from Cherryville High School in 1953. After a two-year stint at UNC-Chapel Hill (he left school early), Barker went to work for the DuPont Company down in Aiken, South Carolina. While he enjoyed working for DuPont, Barker always saw it as a job rather than a career path.
After several years in Aiken, Barker travelled north to Washington, DC in pursuit of a law degree. It was 1961. His interest in becoming a lawyer was fleeting, though, and lasted all of one year.
He dropped out of law school and, serendipitously, a friend who owned a number of local newspapers, including one in Apex, was in need of an editor and asked Barker for help.
“Though I didn’t know anything about newspaper editing, he said he’d give me half of the Apex paper. I agreed and came to love it. I was very involved. About 18 months later, I bought him out and worked there for 5-6 years. This job put me in contact with a lot of state people, and it triggered my interest in politics. I’d cover the Apex town board meetings every week and got to know more about the town than they did,” Barker remembered, with a laugh.
From there, he decided to run for Apex mayor and won by 16 votes.
“It was an enjoyable time,” he said with a smile.
Barker’s immersion into the world of local newspaper publishing was a bonanza of knowledge, information, connection, and service. As such, he didn’t plan on selling the newspaper, but during a conversation with another local newspaper owner, Barker asked if he’d consider buying his paper.
“‘What do you want for it?’ my editor friend asked? I pulled a figure out of thin air that was probably five times the actual value. He called back 30 minutes later and said we’ll buy it. I was out of a job in two weeks,” Barker shared with a hint of the same incredulity he felt in that moment all those years ago.
Barker’s downtime didn’t last very long. His brother, who owned a couple of grocery stores in the western part of the state, asked him to help with some recently acquired slush (think Slurpees) machines. They transitioned pretty quickly from selling the slushy drinks to selling the machines.
“We bought a bunch and I was pretty good with this kind of thing. We repaired them and turned around and sold them and were more than successful at it,” Barker recalled.
Selling and distributing slush machines evolved over time as they added a broader array of food service equipment. Restaurants, cafeterias, and convenience stores were their clients as they sold everything from shelving to refrigeration equipment.
Barker graduated from Campbell University in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science in history. His connection to and love for this university are deep and passionate, demonstrated through his donations, fundraising efforts, board membership, and reflected in the school honoring him by naming a residence hall and the football stadium after him. It’s no wonder, given the importance of this connection, that the pivot point for Barker’s company to go from restaurant equipment to detention center items happened via a Campbell University acquaintance.
“There was a guy there who worked in the canteen. He was also selling equipment to jails and was about to leave that work. I talked him into working for us on the restaurant equipment side but to assist as they navigated their way into jails and detention centers,” Barker detailed.
It was 1972. They created a sell sheet specifically for jail and detention center sales. Success was almost immediate and grew, slowly but surely. The catalog went from 2 to 4 to 8 to 16 to 32 to 64 pages. What started as an 11×17, two-sided sell sheet evolved into a catalogue of 160+ pages that features over 7,000 products.
We paused the interview here, and Barker escorted me down a nearby hall where the framed covers of every product catalogue hang—a veritable hall of precedents. How did these products end up being so successful in the detention/prison market?
“We were innovators. We continuously offered/made new products that jails had not used or seen before. The first rule of sales is to find a need and fill it. But you can also create a need, and the industry has followed us time and time again,” he noted.
Barker talked about how client satisfaction is key and how they call 100 or so clients a month to ask customers, “How are we doing?” Their client satisfaction sits somewhere between 95-97%. The industry standard is around 80%. Numbers like this don’t lie.
“We have suppliers in the hundreds with manufacturing happening around the globe. I have travelled all over the world looking for products, and we have tried a lot of things. Some manufacturing (mattresses, clothing) and assembly (new inmate kits) happens here in the Fuquay-Varina offices. There is some competition in different pockets of the business, but nobody has put it all together like we have. We have been able to attract smart and innovative people, which has obviously paid off,” Barker said.
Another key to Barker’s success both on the job and at home is his wife, Pat.
“Pat was a tremendous help financially; [she’s] very smart and a great decision maker. Having her join the company was one of the smartest decisions I ever made. If it hadn’t been for her, I would have been bankrupt many times. She held a steady financial hand and was very innovative. She received her MBA from Duke after joining the company and ran the financial end of the business for many years up until a few years ago,” Barker praised.
Barker told me that it was his children, Nancy and Robert, who advocated 15 years ago for them to give back. And so, in 2009, the Bob Barker Foundation was created. Its mission is to fund non-profits dedicated to reducing recidivism (i.e., re-offense rates). This foundation is unique in its exclusive focus on reducing recidivism, having contributed millions to programs that help formerly incarcerated individuals successfully reenter society and become productive citizens.
“We give away about $1.5 to $2M a year to organizations that are trying to reduce recidivism. These organizations help people who were incarcerated to find jobs, provide training, help them find places to live, and facilitate their reuniting with their families,” he detailed.
According to Barker, there are all kinds of organizations around the country trying to do good and are frequently started by an inmate that came out of the system. Some that started small have grown. Recidivism is currently around 50% to 75%. Most of these small groups do a pretty good job of reducing recidivism down to 10-20%.
“We started a second chance initiative here in North Carolina. The governor has picked up on it, and they are encouraging it now. We started a college degree program in Sampson County, in conjunction with Campbell. The state is now helping with it. Last year, we had 10 graduates who received four-year degrees, and we had about 15-20 graduates who received two-year degrees. This is in both men’s and women’s prisons. The college degree program is the only thing that reduces recidivism to 0%,” Barker emphasized.
Barker reiterated how they are earnestly trying to give as much to the community as possible, since it’s been so good to them. The Bob Barker Company is 53 years old and is undeniably the largest and most successful supplier to detention centers, jails, and prisons in the country.
“We probably sold something to every jail and prison in the U.S. We are in the Caribbean. We have some business in Europe and some in Canada. Most of our business, though, is in the U.S. We also work with juvenile facilities and mental hospitals. My heart is more on the juvenile market than anywhere else. We have an opportunity there to really affect positive life change — more so when they are young,” Barker shared.
The foundation has given funds to over 400 organizations, and foundation representatives (sometimes, including Barker) attend about 70 national trade shows each year.
Returning organizations seeking more funding are asked a simple question: How have you reduced recidivism? The answers vary, but the emphasis is on reduction, and if they can demonstrate success, the foundation will provide ongoing support.
Barker noted that employees at the company are involved in decision-making at the foundation.
“We hold a monthly meeting where six applications are reviewed, with an award of some type being granted. The employees involved are very proud to be a part of this. They feel that they are doing their part to reduce recidivism. We have previously incarcerated people working here. As a matter of fact, the director of the foundation is a former incarcerated person and is an outstanding young man,” Barker lauded.
Barker said people make mistakes. If they truly want to improve their lives, we’ve got to help them as much as we can. He then described attending a graduation ceremony in one of the prisons.
“They hug my neck and shake my arm off because I helped get them started. They are so appreciative. It changed their lives,” he recalled fondly.
But it’s not just the foundation that helped Barker to impact and change lives. I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least call out his community work.
“We were in Apex for 25 years and have been in Fuquay-Varina since 1986. I served as mayor in Apex and Fuquay-Varina and was a state senator. I served the community in a variety of ways, including president of the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club in both towns,” Barker detailed.
And if that wasn’t enough, he and his wife, along with three other couples, founded the Woodhaven Baptist Church in Cary. That was 40 years ago.
As of this writing, Barker still works about 30-40 hours a week. And, though his children run the core business, he is the chairman of the board and handles the portfolio investments for the Bob Barker Foundation. As a kind of celebrity in this niche market, when Barker attends a national trade show on behalf of the company, attendees graciously ask to take their picture with him and get his autograph. These red-carpet moments notwithstanding, staying involved at the Bob Barker Company helps him remain active and healthy.
“I’ve got something to get up for each morning,” he said.
For his contributions, Barker has been recognized with North Carolina’s highest honor, The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, which was bestowed upon him in 2018. His legacy is that of a self-made entrepreneur who used his success to transform lives and communities, not just for profit, but for a greater purpose.
