Barry Stewart Press' Obituary
Barry Stewart Press, 68, beloved husband and father passed away surrounded by love on Monday, December 20, 2022. A native Miamian, Barry grew up in North Miami Florida, was a proud North Miami Senior High Pioneer and lifelong member of the Gator Nation.
Barry was an incredibly smart, passionate, kind, opinionated, and thoughtful man. Whether it was how to fix anything, and it really was anything and everything, how to build anything or just a random general question, Barry was your “Go-To” person.
From an early age Barry loved to fish, he was an avid fisherman starting on the docks at the Newport and Haulover Piers, later joining lifelong friends on party boats and then on his own boat “The Relentless” entering, winning, and setting records in Oceanwater Tournaments. Barry passed his passion and love of fishing to his son Zack and many friends over the years.
Barry loved to work with his hands, from his early days working with his mother at the family’s 400 Acre Nursery in Florida City, his passion for plants, flowers, tress, and landscaping never left him. As you drive around Western Broward and South Miami, so many of the developments and homes are green and gorgeous because of Barry’s talents. His own homes always had beautiful plants and he always indulged his wife’s passion for planting her favorite flowers, gardenias, and growing orchids.
Barry’s passions reach from the Earth to the Stars. He loved to build anything and everything and spent many happy hours in his 3-car garage (no cars really fit) wood working. One of his proudest accomplishments was his Telescope, which he meticulously researched and built, equipped with a special mirror and eye pieces. A true masterpiece that he took out all the time for the neighborhood to look through, teaching not only the children in the neighborhood, but all of the parents too about the planets, the moon, and the stars. Many, many nights were spent sitting outside in the driveway or even loading the very large telescope into the back of the Explorer and driving into the Everglades to see the stars, the moon, watch eclipses and meteor showers. When Barry became a member of the American Heritage family, he became an advisor for the Astronomy Club. For many years Barry led the annual trip to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, a true treat for him and all of the students.
Barry loved to travel. At the age of 14 he and mother, brother and sister took a driving tour of Europe, a trip he remembered so fondly, so clearly and continued to speak about as his son started to travel to the same places that Barry had visited. His love of travel, especially driving, took us all over the country, from coast to coast. Summer trips to Maine, the Jersey Shore, Washington DC, and his favorite summer “camp-visit” tour with Alicia through the mountains of Northern Georgia and North Carolina. Barry also loved being in Colorado and learned to ski at his favorite locations of Breckenridge and Steamboat Springs. There were many great spring skiing trips with his family and close friends. Barry was able to travel to Israel for the first time 3 years ago, despite health issues and it was a moving and profound experience. But, by far his favorite trip was 2 summers ago when he and Alicia took a round-trip cross-country road trip from Florida to Colorado with many great stops along the way, one of the highlights was his visit to The Crater
of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas where we really did try and dig for diamonds, it was dirty, hot and so much fun!
There are so many, many more amazing stories to a life well lived, his passion for computers, technology, current events, coaching youth Soccer and Football for Zack, his politics, B-B-Qing and his new passion for smoking meat, the Florida Gators and Miami Dolphins football teams and all of the famous “Barry-isms” that we have all come to know and love.
LOVE….LOVE is what we will cherish and remember about Barry and miss the most, his love of lifelong friends from his North Miami neighborhood, high school and college and more recent friends and neighbors in Silver Lakes and Weston, his love for his American Heritage family, his devotion and love of so many of Zack’s friends that came to spend days and nights at our house, and his love of his family.
But most of all Barry loved us, his devotion and commitment to our family was unwavering. He would radiate happiness when talking about Zack, how proud he was that he got to be his dad and how much he loved all the time that they spent together. Being married to Barry, there was never a day in the past 32 years that we were together that he didn’t say “have I told you today how much I love you” “have I told you how beautiful you are!” We were so very blessed to have been a part of this remarkable man’s life and we will miss him beyond measure and love him all the days of our lives, as he lives on in our hearts forever.
Barry Press is survived by his wife of 28 years Alicia, his son Zachary, his Mother-in-Law Nancy Broudy, Sister-in-Law Emily and wife Heather, Brother-in-Law Michael and wife Diane, Niece Meredith Broudy Sunshine (Marshall), Aunt, Ellen Roth, Brother Mark Press and wife Carol, nieces Jamie Keyes (Zack) Leslie Sharpe (Brian), second sons Michael Lenis (Bill and Polly) Ian Smul (Wayne and Sheryl Anderman) closest family friends Ed and Nancy Rappaport and many nieces, nephews, and close friends.
Please join us as we honor Barry’s remarkable life on Sunday January 8th at 12 noon with a Memorial Service at the Levitt-Weinstein Chapel in Hollywood Florida. And, as per Barry’s wishes we will Celebrate after the services with all of the food, music and drinks that Barry loved, sharing stories, laughter tears and LOVE.
What’s your fondest memory of Barry?
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Share a story where Barry's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Barry you’ll never forget.
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