James Barrett; Insurance Co. Executive Was Active in USO

James E. Barrett, 85, a retired insurance company executive who held national leadership positions with the USO and other charitable organizations, died Oct. 5 of congestive heart failure at his home in Reston.

Mr. Barrett was a young executive with the Mutual of Omaha insurance company when he opened his firm's Washington office in 1956. He was executive vice president of the company from 1966 until his retirement in 1987 and often testified before Congress about insurance matters.

He served on the boards of directors of several insurance companies affiliated with Mutual of Omaha and was a director of the First National Bank of Washington in the 1970s.

He was exceptionally active in volunteer work for charities, particularly the USO. He was president of the USO board of governors from 1978 to 1982 and was chairman of the international executive committee in 1977 and 1978. He also served as national conference chairman of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in 1976.

Mr. Barrett was born in Omaha and attended Creighton University in his home town before serving as an Army infantry officer in World War II. He graduated from Creighton's law school in 1948, then joined Mutual of Omaha.

He was a trustee of American University and Marymount University in Arlington County. He also was a member of the board of directors of the Heights School, a Catholic boys' school in Potomac, and was its chairman from 1973 to 1978.

He was the founding director and president of a private foundation to promote physical education in schools. He also was a trustee of the Behrend Foundation, which supports a volunteer humanitarian organization that rebuilds houses in low-income communities in Washington.

Mr. Barrett was a member and past president of the board of governors of the Nebraska State Society of Washington.

He also was president of a group seeking to rebuild the scenic Manassas Gap railroad route in the Shenandoah Valley.

His honors included the Bess Goodman Humanitarian Award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the D.C. Community Service Award. He was elected to the Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame at Fort Benning, Ga.

Mr. Barrett lived in Bethesda for many years and was a longtime member of the Church of the Little Flower. He had lived in Reston since 1998 and was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Herndon.

Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Mary Ann Forsyth Barrett of Reston; four children, Mary Margaret "Peggy" Slye of Bethesda, Susan E. Kozlowski of New York, JoAnne Coogan of Mena, Ark., and James E. Barrett Jr. of Herndon; a brother; 11 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

-- Matt Schudel