A memorial service celebrating the life of Anthony Barker, associate dean of natural sciences and a professor of physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will be held Thursday, March 11, at 3 p.m. in the Old Main Chapel.
The service will be followed by a reception in the CU Heritage Center on the third floor of Old Main.
Barker, 42, died of natural causes the weekend of Feb 28-29 at his ski condominium in Steamboat Springs, Colo.
Barker earned his bachelor's degree in physics from Harvard College, graduating summa cum laude in 1982. He received his master's degree in physics from Harvard University in 1982 and his doctorate from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1988.
He became an assistant professor of physics at CU-Boulder in 1992, an associate professor of physics in 1999 and became a full professor in 2003. He also was appointed associate vice chancellor for research in January 2003, then was named associate dean for natural sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences in October 2003.
According to Arts and Sciences Dean Todd Gleeson, "Tony Barker was an exceptional colleague and friend. In all of his roles, as a professor of experimental high-energy physics, mentor to physics honors students and as an adviser to his graduate students, Tony was effective and very accomplished.
"His knowledge of the university and of science was vast and his counsel well reasoned. He always had a lot of irons in the fire. We are going to miss him as a friend and the college is going to miss him as a leader."
CU-Boulder physics doctoral student Michael Wilking, who worked extensively with Barker on high-energy physics projects including the decay of rare particles, said he was saddened by Barker's death. "This is especially hard on the graduate students he mentored, and we will miss him tremendously."
Barker is survived by his mother, Ruth Barker of Lakewood, Colo., and his sister, Alison Schlomer, also of Lakewood.
Gifts to benefit physics students established in Barker's honor can be made by sending checks payable to the CU Foundation at P.O. Box 1140, Boulder, CO. 80306.