Radio legend Barry Farber dies at 90

Radio great Barry Farber, a true pioneer in the world of talk radio going back to 1960, died Wednesday in New York City at the age of 90.

Farber’s journalist daughter Celia Farber first shared the news of her father’s passing in a tweet, writing: “My father Barry Farber, beloved, died this evening, at 6:25 pm. He was home, in bed, and we were all with him. He turned 90 just yesterday. He told me recently that his concept of death was ‘going somewhere I've never been before, like Finland or Estonia.’ May God rest his soul.”

Honoring his extraordinary and colorful career, Farber was designated by Talkers Magazine in 2002 as one of the Top 10 radio hosts of all time. And before being inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2014, Farber commented: "I would rather burn out than rust out. I am one of those who will not retire." And so he did, hosting “The Barry Farber Show” right to the end.

Barry Farber began in radio in 1960 on WINS 1010 in New York City, later moving to WOR AM 710 until 1977, when he got the political bug and ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York City. Turning back to his true love – radio – his show went national on the ABC Radio Network. Most recently, Farber had been hosting a live daily show five nights a week on CRN Digital Talk. As Sean Hannity said of Farber: "He blazed the trail for all of us today in talk radio.”

Alongside his broadcasting fame, and contributing mightily to his always-evident grasp of history and culture, was Farber’s love affair with language. He spoke or studied more than 25 – including Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Mandarin, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Swedish and Yiddish, Bulgarian and Korean. He also wrote a book titled “How to Learn Any Language.” In it, he wrote that when he was inducted into the U.S. Army in 1952, he was "tested and qualified for work in fourteen different languages."

Commenting on Farber’s passing, Talkers magazine publisher Michael Harrison said: “Barry Farber was one of the founding fathers of talk radio whose influential career spanned both the modern and pre-modern eras of the format. He described his longevity in the business as ‘being big in the old days and old in the big days.’ He was among the finest public speakers of his time and a true wordsmith who served as an inspiration for generations of broadcasters who strived to be artists as well as communicators.”

Barry Farber is survived by his wife, TV journalist Sara Pentz, whom he married in 2008, as well as daughters, Celia and Bibi.

On a personal note: Barry Farber was a friend, colleague and hero. He was a longtime weekly columnist for WND. Moreover, having had the opportunity to be a guest on his show dozens of times over the years, I can honestly say Barry Farber was my favorite talk show host in the whole world to be interviewed by, and I told him so more than once. The best talk hosts have the mysterious ability to draw the very best out of their guests, and that was Barry. He was unfailingly warm, gracious, knowledgeable, fresh, and effusively but genuinely enthusiastic about and interested in his guests. I am also grateful to have had the chance to talk to Barry just a day before he died. I called him up to wish him well on Tuesday – it was his 90th birthday. God rest your soul, Barry.