William Barr – Biography, Education, Family And Net Worth

Quick Facts

Not many folks in the legal profession get the honour of leading the nation’s Justice Department in their lifetime. To get that privilege twice? Then you must be William Barr. Born in New York to college teachers, Barr is America’s 85th Attorney General. Here is a quick rundown of his career and personal life.

William Barr – Biography

William Barr was born on the 23rd of May 1950 in the cosmopolitan city of New York to Donald Barr, (a Jew who later converted to Roman Catholicism) and Marry Margaret. The young Will was raised in the Upper West Side area of Manhattan.

After his education at Columbia, Will worked for the CIA for a period of 4 years – between 1973 and 1977, after which he proceeded to clerk for Judge Malcolm Wilkey at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

He joined the Regan White House as a domestic policy staff on the 3rd of May 1982. He was on the job for a little over one year before venturing into private practice for the next nine years.

When President George H. W. Bush came into power, Barr was appointed to the Justice Department to provide legal advice for the president and other executive agencies as Assistant Attorney General. He would later rise to the role of Deputy Attorney General in May 1990 and subsequently – Attorney General in November 1991.

Education

You don’t get to become the Attorney General of the United States twice without passing through the halls of some of the nation’s premier institutions of learning. Will is studious and conscientious, traits that came early in life most possibly because of his parent’s experience in academia. His dad Donald Barr was a lecturer with the Columbia University where he taught English literature and at some point, he had a stint as headmaster of the Dalton School in Manhattan. His mum also taught at Columbia University.

The young William Barr attended the Catholic-run Corpus Christi School in Upper West Side Manhattan after which he moved to Horace Mann School, an Ivy Preparatory School League located in The Bronx.

After high school, the young Barr enrolled into Columbia University, earning a Bachelors Degree in Government in 1971. He obtained his post-graduate degree in 1973, majoring in Government and Chinese Studies also at Columbia University.

Will had interests in Law and attended the George Washington University Law School, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1977.

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Family

William Barr was born to Mary and Donald Barr, both faculty members at the prestigious Columbia University. He has three brothers whom little is known about.

William married Christine Moynihan in 1973 and the couple has been blessed with three kids. Very little information is available about Barr’s kids except one – Mary Dally. Mary is a lawyer and former federal prosecutor whose job remit included prosecuting drug traffickers and notorious gang members in the New York area, a job she did for thirteen years.

After it became obvious William Barr was going to return to his post at the Justice Department, murmurs of potential conflicts of interest began to surface, being that he would have to essentially be his daughters “boss”.

Daly was appointed the director of Opioid Enforcement And Prevention Efforts – a position carved out in December 2017 in the office of the Deputy Attorney General of the US by the former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

After her dads’ appointment, she was moved to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The issues surrounding a potential conflict of interest have however not entirely been put to rest since it became public knowledge that Tyler McGaughey, Barr’s son-in-law, joined the White House counsel’s office.

William Barr Net Worth

Beyond public service, Barr has had a successful career in corporate law and private practice, his CV is truly impressive on all counts.

From 1994 to 2000, after his first stint as Attorney General, William Barr was Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the GTE Corporation. Between 2000 and 2008, he held the position of Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Tech giant Verizon, overseeing the legal and regulatory sides of the business. After retiring from Verizon, he consulted for big corporations and also served as counsel and litigator for DC-based Kirkland & Ellis.

It is, however, no surprise that Barr is a wealthy man. His stocks at the Bank of America is valued between $500,000 and $1 million. He holds choice stocks and shares in some of the nations most successful companies including; Citigroup, General Motors, AT&T Inc., Dominion Energy, Inc. Bristol Myers Squibb, Vector Group (VGR), J.P. Morgan, Altria Group, Merck & Co., Morgan Stanley, Pfizer, among others. While at Kirkland & Ellis, Barr earned $1.2 million per year.

Though his exact net worth is difficult to ascertain, going by his declared assets and liabilities, his fortune will be some miles off the $20-million-mark.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.