Howard William

Barnes

Howard William Barnes, 94, passed away on November 9, 2026. Howard was born in Salt Lake City on February 9, 1932, to John Christopher and Bertha Brown Barnes. He grew up in Salt Lake City, where he attended Uintah Elementary, Roosevelt Junior High School, and East High School prior to attending Harvard College, where he earned a BA in Government in 1955. He served in the U.S. Navy as a line officer between 1955 and 1958. In the final year of his Navy service, he married Janet Louise Gordon in the Los Angeles Temple on November 22, 1957.

Howard lived a rich and full life that included graduation with an MBA from the University of Southern California and a doctorate from the Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany. Following Navy service, he was employed in sales and marketing research at the Carnation Company headquarters in Los Angeles prior to joining the faculty of the College of Business at Brigham Young University. He taught Marketing, Strategy, and International Business there until he retired as a professor in 1997. In 1984–1985, he served as a Fulbright lecturer at Shandong University in Jinan, China, and in 2001–2002 as a Fulbright lecturer at Vilnius University in Kaunas, Lithuania. He also taught at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, in 2000 and in 2003–2004 at the University of Economics in Krakow, Poland, both as a volunteer.

With his ever-loving, always adventurous wife, Janet, he did volunteer service at the Tibetan Self-Help Refugee Center and the Mother Teresa Home for the Dying and Destitute in Darjeeling, India, in 1997–1998, as well as serving as Perpetual Education Fund missionaries in South Africa from 2007 to 2009. Janet also did volunteer service in Cairo, Egypt; Kaunas, Lithuania; and Krakow, Poland. Howard joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a Harvard freshman, and served in several bishoprics and high councils as well as a bishop of a BYU student ward. In addition to academic research, Howard wrote an autobiography titled The Next Turn in the Road: There Is Always Someone or Something Ahead. He also published journals relating to Janet's and his service in China, India, Lithuania, Poland and South Africa. His books are included in the collections of Harvard's Widener Library and the Church History Department.

His business activities included management consulting in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, as well as being the co-founder, with two colleagues, of Bonneville Bank in Provo, where he also served as board chairman. Howard loved photography, Russian literature, travel, exercise, classical music, and the Wall Street Journal! Howard had many friends and colleagues who brought him great joy.

He is survived by his sons Stephen (Hege), Warren (Kathy), and Keith (Nina), and grandchildren Michael, Megan, Erik, Christopher, Peter, Elyse, Tyler, K.C., Chanel, Sterling, Thalese, and Luke.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Eastlawn Memorial Park in Provo, Utah, at a later date.