January 29, 1951 - February 29, 2024
Professor Emeritus, Anthony (Tony) Francis Barbet, PhD, passed away on February 29, 2024 in Spokane, WA. Born in London, England, in January 1951 to Iris Peggy and Henryk Barbet (Paczkowski), he was raised in England, graduated with a BS from the University of London - Queen Elizabeth College, and earned a PhD in Biochemistry from Cambridge University. In 1976 he joined the International Laboratory for Research in Animal Diseases, a new United Nations research laboratory in Nairobi, Kenya, where he worked for 4 years before taking a research position at WSU?s College of Veterinary Medicine in Pullman, WA in 1980. A few months later he met his wife to be, a senior veterinary student, Joy Lundstrum from Waverly, WA. They married in the summer of 1982. They moved from the Pullman area in 1986 to the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida where Tony led a research group on tropical, vector born diseases including African Sleeping Sickness and heartwater of sheep and cattle in Africa and the Caribbean Islands. Tony remained at the University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville for 30 years continuing research on several related tick borne rickettsial diseases of animals and humans while training numerous graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. Within a few years he was promoted to the rank of full Professor. Anthony and Joy raised their sons in Florida and, upon his retirement, they moved to the UK in 2016 to assist his aged mother. While in the UK, he mentored a colleague in Florida and analyzed data resulting in more scientific publications. While still in the UK in 2019 - 2021 he was diagnosed and treated for Stage IV cancer. As the pandemic eased slightly, with vaccines made available and his cancer asymptomatic, Anthony and Joy returned to the Spokane area in 2021 to be nearer to Joy?s extended family. Anthony is predeceased by his father, Henryk Barbet and his mother Peggy Barbet. He is survived by Joy, his spouse of 41 years, 2 sons, Mark Barbet of Washington, DC and David Barbet of Seattle, sisters- and brother-in-law, Cathy his cousin in the United Kingdom, cousins in Poland, nieces and nephews, and friends and colleagues around the world. We will dearly miss his humor, kindness, and patience. Memorials are suggested to the Paul G. Allen School for Global Health Graduate Education Fund, P.O. Box 647010, Pullman, WA 99164 or link https://foundation.wsu.edu/give/?fund=5a01e25f-57fb-47b0-88ea-16bf2273d633&
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