Castro was diagnosed with lung cancer in March of 2004 and he passed away quickly and peacefully.
Castro joined the Grand Valley community in 1973. He was a champion for ethics, teaching courses on the topic and establishing the Center for Business Ethics in Seidman College of Business. The center is a roundtable of CEOs, faculty and other community leaders who meet together to discuss ethical issues related to business. Castro also initiated and led seminars with CEOs who read Plato and discussed the ethical applications of his works to businesses. Fred P. Keller, chairman and CEO of Cascade Engineering, was one of the business leaders who participated in those roundtables.
"Barry's gentle nature and persistent interest in me as a person encouraged me to speak my truth about what I feel about the world and how I think I can impact it and how it impacts me," Keller said. "His nudgings have empowered me to give voice to those innermost thoughts about the world and validated my thoughts. By so doing, he allowed me to hear more openly and accurately the same thoughts and musings of others. In reflection, this is the nature of dialogue -- moving beyond politeness and your own feelings to listening and reflecting on the feelings of others to arrive at a new whole."
In 2004, Castro passed the leadership of the Center for Business Ethics to Michael DeWilde.
"Barry's interest in his students was genuine and enduring," DeWilde said. "His tremendous intellectual appetites were wedded to a generousity of spirit that made him close to irresistible to most students and his many close friends. As a student, then colleague and friend, I never left him feeling anything but much better about myself than I had any real right to. He challenged you, made you think with him, and then he made you think you were smarter, more talented, and even better-looking than you probably were. I sought him out on questions large and small and he never failed to take each seriously. He was a gift to the profession and I suspect it will be a long time before we see anyone else quite like him among us."
Castro joined the faculty of what was then Grand Valley's William James College in 1973, serving in that position until 1983, when he moved to the Seidman School of Business as professor of management. He also served as assistant dean for seven years. He was an advocate of liberal studies, student writing and learning, and community service. He served on many committees at the university.
Castro earned his master's degree in 1965 and his doctorate in 1967, both at New York University. He held a bachelor's degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York, which he earned in 1955. Before coming to Grand Valley, he taught at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Brooklyn College of CUNY, the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey and Hostos Community College of CUNY.
Castro was honored in Lansing by the Michigan Association of Governing Boards in Lansing for his leadership in teaching, research and service in 1997. He was published in the Harvard Business Review, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the American Economic Review, and numerous other publications. He also gave of himself to many community causes, serving on boards and contributing to a variety of area organizations, including Second Harvest Gleaners .
There will be a memorial service on campus sometime in early June. Details will follow when available.
