Daughter discovers her dad was an Apple pioneer after finding his 1981 work card: “It would have cracked him up”

Ashley, a 40-year-old woman, posted a photo on Reddit of her late father Barry’s Apple employee ID badge. Barry was one of Apple’s first employees in Florida. The 1981 badge was found by her mother while cleaning out an old wallet, and she asked Ashley to share it online.

Barry was Apple’s first salesperson in Florida and spent the entire 1980s working for the company, visiting schools to promote the use of Apple products. His wife—Ashley’s mother—also worked for Apple as a receptionist. The two met in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1981 during a work trip. “Momma said he was the absolute most handsome man she had ever met,” Ashley shared.

As a child, Ashley thought her father literally sold apples—and even believed he was Lionel Richie because of his mustache and how much he looked like the singer. Technology was always part of their home, with devices like the Apple IIe and games like Déjà Vu. Barry even got to meet Steve Jobs in Hawaii and Robin Williams in Cupertino. “When Apple threw parties—they threw parties, man,” Ashley said, recalling the company’s golden years in Florida.

After leaving Apple in 1989, Barry pursued life as an entrepreneur. He founded “WeShop,” a delivery service ahead of its time and a forerunner to DoorDash, and later worked with his son selling skateboard ramps. He eventually returned to sales in the auto finance industry. In 2014, he underwent heart surgery—and during his hospital stay, Ashley met the man who would become her husband, a twist of fate she always linked to her father’s presence.

That same year, the family moved to Michigan, where Ashley’s brother later married their neighbor. Ashley remembers her father fondly as a charismatic and funny man. “this whole to-do about his goofy Apple ID badge, it would have cracked him up,” she said.

Barry passed away on August 24, 2020, just before his 35th wedding anniversary. “Up to the day my father died, he had his mustache. I never witnessed him without it,” Ashley said. His legacy lives on not only in the hearts of his family but also as part of a pioneering generation that helped shape the future of personal computing. During Barry’s time at Apple, the company was preparing to launch the Macintosh and change computing history forever.

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