John Barry; made WD-40 into fixture of handyman

Obituary

By Associated Press | July 22, 2009

SAN DIEGO - John Barry, the unpretentious Midwesterner who made a California product called WD-40 into a national sensation by “breaking all the Harvard Business School rules,’’ died July 3 at a skilled nursing facility here of pulmonary fibrosis. He was 84.

Mr. Barry’s business genius during three decades at the company was in emphasizing brand loyalty for a lubricant that fights rust and eliminates squeaks. He preached the value of staying focused on your product and your market and not being distracted.

“He had a saying: ‘Don’t be like a blind dog in a meat house,’ ’’ said Garry O. Ridge, WD-40 Co.’s current president and chief executive.

As WD-40, in its blue-and-yellow spray can, began to become more popular in the early 1970s, Mr. Barry, as president and chief executive, led the drive to take the company public. But he resisted advice from business gurus that said a one-product company was a bad investment.

He declined suggestions that WD-40 expand to other products, engage in slick advertising, or partner with large retailers.

In later years he liked to show visitors his “graveyard of imitators,’’ products developed by larger companies that failed to break into the market. He said he owed his company’s success to breaking all the rules about mergers and acquisitions and shelf-space in stores. “When you have a good product, don’t tinker with it,’’ Mr. Barry said.

He avoided corporate trappings. He answered his own phone; on airplane flights, he traveled coach; he held business meetings at Denny’s restaurants. He insisted that subordinates address him informally.

“Dad was a meat-and-potatoes guy,’’ said his son Randy, who works in the operations supply part of WD-40.

A native of Minneapolis, John S. Barry served as a supply officer in the Navy and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in mechanical engineering and from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a master’s in business and engineering administration.

John Barry, Patron Saint of handymen, Rest in Peace.

"There are only two items a handyman really needs. If it moves and it shouldn't, use duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40."