Obituaries

Mr. Corkery was an election judge in Montgomery County for many years and a 54-year member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians as well as past president of the John Barry Division and the D.C. state board. He was a member of the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda, where he served as an Aramathian and usher. On St. Patrick's Day, he would usher at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Washington.

Survivors include his wife of 49 years, Mary Corkery of Bethesda; 10 children, Kevin Corkery, Brian Corkery, Eugene Corkery Jr., Gary Corkery, Mari Corkery, Kathleen Carrington, Carolyn Corkery and Anne Corkery, all of Bethesda, Patrick Corkery of Kensington and Barry Corkery of Derwood; and 10 grandchildren.

Arthur BariDiamond Setter

Arthur Bari, 93, a diamond setter who had a shop in Baltimore for many years, died Nov. 15 of respiratory failure caused by pneumonia at the National Lutheran Home in Rockville. He was a Rockville resident.

Mr. Bari was born Attilio Dante Barisciano in Brooklyn, N.Y., the youngest of six children in an immigrant family from Castellaneta, Italy. Because he was the only child in the family born in the United States, he was known to relatives as "the American."

After graduating from high school, he enrolled at what was then the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, intending to be an engineer, but the Depression thwarted those plans.

He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933, five days after the program was created as a way to provide training and jobs for young Americans. After a few weeks at Camp Dix, N.J., as it was then known, he was transferred in a boxcar to Washington state, where he helped blaze fire trails on the slopes of Mount Rainier.

He learned diamond cutting through a formal apprentice program and moved to the Baltimore-Washington area when his wife got a job in Washington with the Census Bureau. A master craftsman, he opened his diamond-setting shop on West Fayette Street in downtown Baltimore in 1940 and changed his name to Arthur Bari, which was easier to spell in business.

Determined to fight the fascists during World War II, he joined the Marine Corps despite being 30 years old and only 5 feet 4 inches tall. His Marine buddies called him "Pop" or "Shorty." Stationed in the Southwest Pacific, he participated in operations in the Bismarck Archipelago and in the consolidation of the Northern Solomons.

After the war, Mr. Bari returned to his diamond-setting shop. He moved his business to Reisterstown Road in the Baltimore suburbs in 1970, where he worked until his retirement in 1987.

During the war, as he lay on the deck of an aircraft carrier plowing across the Pacific at night, Mr. Bari became so intrigued by the countless stars twinkling above him that he became an amateur astronomer. He raised rhododendrons, was an accomplished amateur portrait photographer and loved classical music, especially chamber music. He also cooked delectable Italian dishes and enjoyed being surrounded by family and friends at the dinner table.

Mr. Bari's wife, Ruth Aronson Bari, died in 2005. A daughter, Judi Bari, died in 1997.

Survivors include two daughters, Gina Kolata of Princeton, N.J., and Martha Bari of Silver Spring; and four grandchildren.