Officer Maurice “Moe” Barry, forty-eight, was assigned to the PATH commuter train system in Newark, New Jersey, but when he learned of the terrorist attack, he rushed there from Jersey City to be one of the first on the scene. He was last seen in the North Tower where he was trying to reach trapped workers on the upper floors.
His wife, Marianne, said Moe wasn’t happy unless he was helping people. His twenty-year-old son, Jon, remembers that his dad bought season tickets for the Philadelphia Eagles for the two of them because Jon is a fan. They attended the games together-even though Moe was a Giants fan. When his younger son, now eighteen, once said he wanted a Volkswagen van, his dad found one on the Internet and drove him to South Carolina to pick it up.
Officer Barry worked for the Port Authority as an engineer supervisor responsible for train repairs. He then joined the Port Authority police in 1985. His career and life clearly demonstrate his dedication to the job. He was involved in rescue work during a LaGuardia Airport plane crash. He also rushed to the scene of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He once climbed a bridge to retrieve the body of a person who’d been electrocuted. During Hurricane Floyd, he rescued a woman from her home by boat.
Officer Barry was born on an Air Force base in Tampa, Florida and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey, the eldest of four brothers. Barry and his wife lived in Rutherford, New Jersey. Barry was known for taking delight in others’ joys. He went out of his way to make his friends and family happy. He was always doing things for others, such as clearing their driveways with his snow blower.
Officer Barry was a Rutherford Ambulance Corps volunteer, a past Port Authority Police Benevolent Association delegate, and a former Boy Scout leader.
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