High school sweethearts from Gateway High School in Monroeville, Pa., Barry Simpson ’69 Bus and Kathi Lease Simpson ’69 Edu were married early in their senior year at Penn State. Sitting in a Corner Room booth one day while contemplating Barry’s future, Kathi noticed a sign in the window about an upcoming law school admissions test: “I said, ‘Maybe you want to go to law school?’”  

Barry took his wife’s advice—and then later, she took it, too. “I worked his way through law school, and then he worked my way through law school,” Kathi says of the couple, who juggled careers as attorneys while raising their two children, Bradford ’03 Lib, ’06 MBA Hbg and Caroline ’04 Com. Barry practiced law in Pittsburgh for 20-plus years before he became executive director of the Pennsylvania Bar Association in 1999, serving in that role until he retired in 2023. He also was executive director of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. 

A dedicated Penn State volunteer, Simpson served on Alumni Council, including two years as president of the Penn State Alumni Association from 2009 to 2011. “He really loved his service on Alumni Council and as president,” says Kathi; while he was president, membership in the alumni association exceeded 100,000 for the first time. 

He was proud that both of their children also became Penn Staters, “and that they not only did well but they turned out well. They’re good parents, good people, and good citizens of their communities,” Kathi says. “His pride was his family, and seeing that family flourish was really important to him.”

Simpson died Dec. 5, 2025, in Harrisburg, Pa. In addition to his wife and children, he is survived by five grandchildren. —RR