He spent the bulk of his childhood growing up at Mount Kemble Lake in New Vernon and attended Harding Township School through 8th grade.
Barry won re-election to four consecutive terms in office before accepting a gubernatorial appointment in 1982 from the newly elected Governor Thomas Kean to the post of Director of Consumer Affairs, a position previously held by Millicent Fenwick.
He served throughout the Kean administration's two terms at which point he left government service and moved to the private sector.
As New Jersey's Director of Consumer Affairs, Barry's accomplishments included implementation of the Automobile Lemon Law and the Plain Language Law, restructuring the Bureau of Securities, winning more than six million dollars for New Jersey consumers in a defective transmission case and the establishment of an auto repair fraud unit.
[2] In the regular June primary election, he came in behind incumbents Eric Munoz and Bramnick and two other candidates finishing in last place with 8 percent of the vote.