I met and befriend Larry Barton a little over 40 years ago. We were business partners. Unbeknown to most, Larry was a Pioneer in may areas. He was the Co-Founder of Southwest Bronx Community Coordinating Council, a small community economic development non-profit in the Bronx. It later spawned one of New York State's
first Neighborhood Preservation Companies in the late 70's, called East-West Eviction Preservation.
Through Larry’s leadership on the Board..it was a great board too...East-West set up the first help desk inside the housing courts in the Bronx, NY helping Pro Se tenants. He was later one of four co-founders of the City-Wide Task Force
on the Housing Courts. In the early 80's, utilizing one of IBM’s 2nd generation PC called the AT, he co-hosted one of the second online bulletin boards in the country for Black people called NABCON (The National Black Communication Network). This was at a time when modems ran at 300, 1200, and 2400 bauds!
He co-founded and pioneered the 1st online service computer conferencing service called
Sphinx Communication Group run and operated entirely by a Black company, for over 15years. In conjunction with Medical Computer Systems Planning (now called MCSP.com), Larry help negotiate the terms and Sphinx launched
one of the 1st online broadband service in Bedford Stuyvesant Brooklyn NY! Owned by two Black men! Through these online services, Larry pioneered the bridging of the digital divide, providing free internet services to national and local churches and professional organizations of color…back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Also, through Sphinx,
Larry hosted the first online electronic medical magazine called Reproductive Sciences, and later formed a joint venture company called Sphinx Internet Services...all before the WEB. I will not inundate you with all of his “simultaneous” community economic development accomplishments while working with the Black United Fund of NY,
while on loan from IBM. Larry was a number-two-in-the-background-man, that everyone knew that he was number 1! No matter what "number" you were he provided the Stability needed for progreaa.
None of Larry’s accomplishments would have been possible with God, his beloved son……and his most beloved wife! Thank you so much Phyllis. She was there when all this went down…but that my friends, is yet another inspiring story of Love, Courage, Support, and Perseverance. Sanyakhu’
