Effi Barry, the stoic, elegant ex-wife of former Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, who stood by his side during his notorious sex and drug scandal in 1990, died early Thursday in a hospital in Annapolis, Md., after a long battle with leukemia. She was 63.
Barry, who most recently worked as the program director for the city health department’s HIV-AIDS Administration, was diagnosed with leukemia in late 2005. By February 2006, she was in remission after chemotherapy treatment.
In July, she told BlackAmericaWeb.com that she learned earlier this year the cancer had returned. “I had chemo but after another round, there was a fear I would relapse,” she said.
“Effi was a valiant fighter throughout her life, and she was a great role model for so many people,” said Claudia Corbin, a college roommate of Barry’s at Hampton University.
“She was upbeat, optimistic — and at peace,” said author Patrice Gaines, who also is a contributor to BlackAmericaWeb.com. “She appreciated her good life, her blessings. When I last talked to her, about three months ago, she was still laughing.”
Marion Barry praised his former wife in a news release Thursday, citing her success at securing city funding for AIDS awareness programs for the poor.
“The city is better off because of the great work she did in bringing hope to our neighborhoods,” Barry said. “Effi was D.C.; we will all miss her.”
While people recalled Barry as beautiful, graceful and gracious, much of the nation remembers her as the strong, long-suffering wife of then-Mayor Barry, who was arrested in a drug bust in a Washington hotel room in 1990, taped by the FBI. The video, showing the mayor smoking crack cocaine and asking an off-and-on mistress for sex, was seen worldwide and made him humorous fodder for comedians.
After the trial, the Barrys separated and then divorced.
Effi Barry dropped out of the public eye for more than a decade, spending much of that time teaching at her alma mater, Hampton University.
In 2004, she returned to Washington to support her ex-husband’s ultimately successful bid to become a city council member. The following year, Barry became a consultant for the Sure Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps children who have been victims of civil unrest, war and poverty. She was named to oversee special projects and capacity building for the HIV/AIDS Administration in 2005.