TBDBITL Alumni Club

The Best Damn Band In The Land - The Ohio State University Marching Band Alumni

G. Michael "Mike" Barnhart

July 31, 1952 - October 20, 2004

Mike Barnhart, 52, died Wednesday, October 20, 2004 due to a pulmonary embolism following prostate surgery.

Mike was born on July 31, 1952, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and grew up in Dayton, Ohio. He attended the Ohio State University, and was a member of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity and the Ohio State Marching Band. He graduated with a degree in food technology in 1974, and a Masters in Business Administration in 1977.

He moved to California in 1978, where he married native Californian Debra (Debbie) Donan, a veterinarian, in 1980. They lived in the city of Orange, and have one daughter, Kelly, 21.

Mike received a Masters degree in Computer Science from the California State University at Fullerton in 1986. He worked for Rockwell International, now the Boeing Company, as a computer software engineer, for the past 20 years.

An accomplished musician, Mike has been a euphonium player in several local performing groups, including the Anaheim Community Band, the Irvine Valley College Band, the Cypress College Jazz Band, the Placentia Community Band, and the Fullerton College Community Band, where he has been a member for 26 years.

There will be a viewing from 5 to 8 pm on Wednesday October 27, and from 4 to 6 pm on Thursday, October 28, at McAulay & Wallace Mortuary, Fullerton.

A Memorial Service will be held at 7 pm Thursday, October 28 at Placentia Presbyterian Church, 849 North Bradford Ave., Placentia. The memorial service should be about an hour in length. A Reception will follow the Memorial Service at the Church. This Reception will be a great time to share all of your thoughts and memories of Mike with Debbie and Kelly, and with ourselves, and will go longer.

Tony Mazzaferro has put a Tuba/Euphonium Choir together for the Memorial Service as a way to remember Mike's love of music, and particularly the euphonium. The family has requested that the musician participation be limited to this group, notwithstanding that all of us want to contribute to this aspect in some way.

Tony Mazzaferro will conduct the Fullerton Community Band in its fall concert on Tuesday, October 26, at Fullerton College. This concert will be dedicated to Mike.

Interment will be in the Barnhart Family Plot near his parent's Ohio home.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Mike's memory can be made to: Script Ohio Club, PO Box 14769, Columbus, Ohio 43214. Contributions wil be directed to the Band Scholarship Endowment.

Mike played baritone as a marching band member from 1971 through 1973 and in 1975.